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Restricted natural hybridization between two species of litter frogs on a threatened landscape in southwestern Brazilian Amazonia

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Abstract

Natural hybridization between allopatric species following secondary contact has been poorly documented for Neotropical anurans inhabiting the Amazonian lowlands. We conducted a genetic survey across a contact zone between two species of litter frogs, Allobates hodli and Allobates femoralis (family Dendrobatidae), located on the left riverbank of the upper Madeira River, State of Rondônia, Brazil. We obtained tissue samples from 11 sampling sites on both riverbanks, covering approximately a 400 km long transect. We evaluated the genetic relationships between samples using haplotype networks and a distance-based phylogenetic tree obtained from a dataset of 16S rRNA mtDNA sequences. Estimates of genetic diversity, population structure, and the identification of sites where genetic admixture occurred were carried out by means of frequency-based methods and Bayesian inference on mtDNA and a set of four microsatellite loci, including samples collected throughout the study area. A reduced dataset including only microsatellite loci genotyped from samples on the left riverbank was applied in assignment tests for detecting levels of admixture at the contact zone and adjacent sampling sites, and for detecting and quantifying hybrid individuals. Our results suggest that genetic introgression between A. hodli and A. femoralis is restricted to the core area of the contact zone, where potential hybrids are less frequent than parental genotypes. Effects on the genetic variability of adjacent populations are only detected at sites located 1.5 km downstream and upstream of the core area, suggesting the existence of selection against hybrids, possibly mediated by postzygotic isolation mechanisms. The contact zone between A. femoralis and A. hodli is the first well delimited suture line between anuran species ever documented in the Brazilian Amazon. The settlement of two dams along the upper Madeira River poses an immediate threat to the gene flow and hybridization balance observed between the populations studied. Our results provided guidelines for a current monitoring program, aiming at the impacts of dams on this evolutionary system’s dynamics.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Walter Hödl, Daniel Rodrigues Santos, Pedro Rodrigues Santos, Adolfo Amézquita, and Iliana Medina for helping us during field work. We thank Mr. Bento Pereira da Silva for allowing us camping at his property for several occasions. We are grateful to Eva Ursprung and Robert Jehle for providing information on microsatellite primers and protocols. We thank Jeff Podos, José Manuel Padial, Marcelo Menin, Mario Cohn-Haft, Marina Anciães, José A. Alves Gomes, Tomas Hrbek, and Daniel Toffoli for suggestions and comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico (CNPq) provided funding for field excursions and laboratory analyses and equipment (CT-Amazônia/CT-Energia No. 13/2006; 470811/2006—Ed 02/2006 Universal; CNPq/CTAmazônia 575603/2008-9). Field work done between 2004 and 2005 received logistical support from Furnas Centrais Elétricas S.A. Collecting permits were provided by RAN-ICMBio/IBAMA (004/03-RAN; 131/04-RAN; 037/2007-RAN/; 13894-1/2009-RAN). Tissue collection permits were provided to CTGA-ICB/UFAM by deliberation nº 75 of August 26, 2004, by CGEN-IBAMA. P.I. Simões received a doctoral fellowship from CNPq from 2006-2010, while conducting this study.

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  1. Coordenação de Pesquisas em Ecologia, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, Caixa Postal 478, Manaus, AM, CEP 69011-970, Brazil

    Pedro Ivo Simões & Albertina P. Lima

  2. Departamento de Biologia, Laboratório de Evolução e Genética Animal (LEGAL), Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM), Av. Rodrigo Octávio Jordão Ramos, 3000, Manaus, AM, 69077-000, Brazil

    Izeni P. Farias

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  1. Pedro Ivo Simões
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Correspondence to Pedro Ivo Simões.

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Simões, P.I., Lima, A.P. & Farias, I.P. Restricted natural hybridization between two species of litter frogs on a threatened landscape in southwestern Brazilian Amazonia. Conserv Genet 13, 1145–1159 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-012-0362-x

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