GENÉTICA, DISTRIBUIÇÃO E CONSERVAÇÃO DO GAVIÃO-REAL (Harpia harpyja) NO BRASIL

AUTOR(ES)
FONTE

IBICT - Instituto Brasileiro de Informação em Ciência e Tecnologia

DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

03/06/2009

RESUMO

The harpy eagle occurs in the forests of the Neotropical region; it is widely distributed in Brazil where its occurrence has been principally registered in the Amazonian and Atlantic rainforests. Between these two biomes exists a corridor of open vegetation with forest connections where this species has also been registered. Brazilian forests have been drastically reduced by anthropogenic action which has resulted in the loss of habitat for the harpy eagle. Still further aggravating this situation, a large number of individuals have been removed from nature. These processes have resulted in the harpy eagle being a vulnerable species which, however, has not had yet its status changed on the Brazilian list of threatened species, and in IUCN where it is listed as near threatened. The principal goal of this study was to determine and evaluate the distribution of genetic variability of the harpy eagle in Brazil. To this effect, I carried out a joint analysis of mtDNA control region and nuclear microsatellite data obtained from an extensive sampling of the harpy eagle and with genetically determined sex. I then carried out a series of analyses that explores different attributes of the molecular markers. With the mtDNA markers I found significant genetic differentiation between samples of the harpy eagle from the Amazonian and Atlantic rainforests, while microsatellite markers showed high levels of population admixture indicating a panmixia of the regions. Both markers indicated high levels of gene flow between the regions. However, gene flow estimates based on mtDNA was unidirectional from the Atlantic rainforest to the Amazonia rainforest, while with microsatellite markers it was bidirectional, but with a higher migration rate in the direction of the Amazon rainforest. Differences in the results obtained from the two types of markers suggests higher rate of dispersal of males and more sedentary behavior of the females. This pattern of partial dispersal of males was also corroborated in other analyses. The analyses suggest that geneflow between the Amazonian and Atlantic rainforests is primarily via the eastern Amazon. The results of coalescent analyses demonstrated that during the Pleistocene the harpy eagle underwent a long period of a reduced population size followed by a strong expansion event. This result was corroborated by conventional and phylogeographic analyses. Genetic diversity encountered in the harpy eagle was similar to that reported in other threatened bird species, including other Falconiformes. There was a strong tendency of decrease of genetic diversity of the harpy eagle with time, with a large reduction in genetic diversity between now and the recent past in the Atlantic rainforest. Geneflow between harpy eagles of the Amazonian and Atlantic rainforests is currently more limited, most likely due to the diminishment of the forest corridors in open vegetation between the two biomes. The results and the information of this thesis can serve as instruments for the refinement of conservation strategies for this species, especially in Brazil where the distribution of this species is the greatest.

ASSUNTO(S)

marcadores moleculares genética de populações fluxo gênico diversidade genética falconiformes genetica

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