Submitted in fulfillment of a 2013 Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative grant.
We examined allelic diversity, genetic variability and population structure of three populations of spotted turtles in Massachusetts using six highly polymorphic microsatellite markers. Two of the populations were from the mainland (Canton and Halifax) and one was from Nantucket (Sanford Farm). Pairwise Fst and population assignment tests showed that overall, spotted turtles from all three locations belong to the same population. The two mainland populations are highly genetically similar and the Sanford Farm population is somewhat less genetically similar to the mainland groups. Assessment of allelic patterns indicates that the Sanford Farm population has the least allelic diversity, as it showed the fewest number of private alleles and the fewest number of different alleles at each locus. We also examined the relationship between two known spotted turtle populations on Nantucket. The two populations, at Sanford Farm and Medouie Creek, are virtually indistinguishable at two of the three loci that were tested.
We examined allelic diversity, genetic variability and population structure of three populations of spotted turtles in Massachusetts using six highly polymorphic microsatellite markers. Two of the populations were from the mainland (Canton and Halifax) and one was from Nantucket (Sanford Farm). Pairwise Fst and population assignment tests showed that overall, spotted turtles from all three locations belong to the same population. The two mainland populations are highly genetically similar and the Sanford Farm population is somewhat less genetically similar to the mainland groups. Assessment of allelic patterns indicates that the Sanford Farm population has the least allelic diversity, as it showed the fewest number of private alleles and the fewest number of different alleles at each locus. We also examined the relationship between two known spotted turtle populations on Nantucket. The two populations, at Sanford Farm and Medouie Creek, are virtually indistinguishable at two of the three loci that were tested.