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Genetic diversity and individual identification of reintroduced otters (Lutra lutra) in north-eastern Spain by DNA genotyping of spraints

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Abstract

During the last century, otter populations in the Mediterranean area of the Iberian Peninsula were dramatically reduced and disappeared in many localities. A reintroduction programme was established in north-eastern Spain (Muga and Fluvià basins and the “Aiguamolls de l’Empordà” wetlands), by releasing 42 otters from four different Iberian populations, between 1995 and 2002. In order to evaluate the success of the reintroduction programme, we investigated microsatellite variation in the native populations of released otters as well as in the population present in the release area in 2004. We used non-invasively collected samples as the DNA source to avoid disturbing the animals in the wild. Laboratory procedures included the screening of samples and a multiple-tubes approach to detect and correct genotyping errors. Our results show that founders have been replaced by descendants in the release area and the population is in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, with a 1:1 sex ratio. Western Iberian otters—representing two-thirds of the founder group and released earlier—have greatly contributed to the genetic composition of the current population. The genetic patterns of otters found in a basin north of the studied area suggest a common origin with the released population. We also detected in a few otters the presence of alleles not identified in the original founder group, and we shall discuss the possible origin of these alleles.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the Barcelona Zoo, the Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage and the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle of Perpignan for providing samples, Dr. D. Saavedra, for valuable information about the reintroduction programme, J. Espigulé and B. Minobis for their valuable help during the field work, L. Julià, O. Andrés and all volunteers that participated in sample collections. We are very grateful to Dr. E. Randi and N. Mucci for a training stage on laboratory procedures. We also thank Dr. M. Bosch for comments on early drafts of the manuscript and two anonymous reviewers that greatly improved the manuscript with their comments. A. Ferrando and R. Lecis were supported by grants from the DURSI, Generalitat de Catalunya (ref. 2002FI-00280) and Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (SB2003-0257), respectively. This study is supported by the Fundació Territori i Paisatge, Caixa Catalunya. The English of this manuscript has been read and corrected by a native, English-speaking instructor of English of this University.

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  1. Aïnhoa Ferrando

    Present address: Dept. de Ciència Animal i dels Aliments, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Valles, 08193, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. de Biologia Cellular, de Fisiologia i d’Immunologia, Facultat de Ciències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Valles, 08193, Spain

    Aïnhoa Ferrando & Montserrat Ponsà

  2. Genètica de la Conservació Animal, Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agrolimentàries, Ctra. Cabrils km2, Cabrils, 08348, Spain

    Aïnhoa Ferrando, Roberta Lecis & Xavier Domingo-Roura

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  1. Aïnhoa Ferrando
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  2. Roberta Lecis
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  3. Xavier Domingo-Roura
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  4. Montserrat Ponsà
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Correspondence to Aïnhoa Ferrando or Montserrat Ponsà.

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This paper is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Xavier Domingo-Roura.

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Ferrando, A., Lecis, R., Domingo-Roura, X. et al. Genetic diversity and individual identification of reintroduced otters (Lutra lutra) in north-eastern Spain by DNA genotyping of spraints. Conserv Genet 9, 129–139 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-007-9315-1

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