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Fine-scale genetic structure of mainland invasive Rattus rattus populations: implications for restoration of forested conservation areas in New Zealand

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Abstract

The ship rat or black rat (Rattus rattus) is one of the most widespread invasive rodent species on earth, and is a known cause of extinction of several endemic species in invaded ecosystems. While some information is available for insular populations, very little is known about the genetic population structure of this species on mainland areas. In this study (the first to characterize genetic population structure of invasive R. rattus on the mainland), we focused on the population structure of rats located in Puketi Forest Conservation Reserve, Northland, New Zealand, to help conservation managers optimize control programs. We used eight microsatellite markers and classical population genetics tools (F st, clustering methods) as well as individual-based descriptive methods using GPS coordinates for each sample (Genetic Landscape Shape, Bandwidth Mapping) in order to determine whether there was any undetected genetic structure over the 5-km2 area. Very little genetic structure was detected. Nevertheless, a weak but significant isolation-by-distance pattern was inferred. No isolation with external sites (encompassing an area up to 20 km2) was found, suggesting the presence of a contiguous population at an even larger scale, presumably by exchanging genes mainly between neighbours. We discuss the implications of these findings in terms of management of ship rats to protect native biodiversity.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Rachel Fewster and Dr Murray Efford for initiating this project and for helpful comments on the manuscript. We also thank Dr Michael Schwartz and three anonymous reviewers who provided comments and suggestions that greatly improved the manuscript. We thank Joelle Taillon, Richard Ball and Brian Karl who completed most of the fieldwork. We also thank Dr Gary Bramley, Richard Lee and Ian Wilson (Puketi Forest Trust) for their help. A permit for sample collection (NO-17635-RES) was provided by the Department of Conservation with the help of Donna Stuthridge. This work was funded by the Foundation for Research Science and Technology (Landcare Research contract numbers C09X0506 and C09X0909).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, PB 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand

    J. Abdelkrim & N. J. Gemmell

  2. Centre for Reproduction and Genomics, Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, University of Otago, PO Box 913, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand

    J. Abdelkrim & N. J. Gemmell

  3. Landcare Research, PO Box 40, Lincoln, 7640, New Zealand

    A. E. Byrom

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  1. J. Abdelkrim
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Correspondence to J. Abdelkrim.

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Abdelkrim, J., Byrom, A.E. & Gemmell, N.J. Fine-scale genetic structure of mainland invasive Rattus rattus populations: implications for restoration of forested conservation areas in New Zealand. Conserv Genet 11, 1953–1964 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-010-0085-9

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