Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Aug 10;5(8):e12061.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0012061.

Invasive predators deplete genetic diversity of island lizards

Amandine Gasc  1 , M C Duryea, Robert M Cox, Andrew Kern, Ryan Calsbeek
Affiliations

Invasive predators deplete genetic diversity of island lizards

Amandine Gasc et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Invasive species can dramatically impact natural populations, especially those living on islands. Though numerous examples illustrate the ecological impact of invasive predators, no study has examined the genetic consequences for native populations subject to invasion. Here we capitalize on a natural experiment in which a long-term study of the brown anole lizard (Anolis sagrei) was interrupted by rat invasion. An island population that was devastated by rats recovered numerically following rat extermination. However, population genetic analyses at six microsatellite loci suggested a possible loss of genetic diversity due to invasion when compared to an uninvaded island studied over the same time frame. Our results provide partial support for the hypothesis that invasive predators can impact the genetic diversity of resident island populations.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Changes in genetic diversity following rat invasion.
The lizard population that experienced rat invasion showed significant loss of A. allelic richness and B. heterozygosity compared to the uninvaded “control”. Analyses show means (+SE) across six microsatellite loci. Significance values are from repeated measures ANOVA.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Approximate Bayesian estimation of theta.
Analyses revealed no measurable change in effective population size following rat invasion.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hadfield MG, Saufler JE. The demographics of destruction: isolated populations of arboreal snails and sustained predation by rats on the island of Moloka'i 1982–2006. Biological Invasions. 2009;11:1595–1609.
    1. Towns DR, Atkinson IAE, Daugherty CH. Have the harmful effects of introduced rats on islands been exaggerated? Biological Invasions. 2006;8:863–891.
    1. Koper N, Mozel KE, Henderson DC. Recent declines in northern tall-grass prairies and effects of patch structure on community persistence. Biological Conservation. 2010;143:220–229.
    1. Thomson D. Measuring the effects of invasive species on the demography of a rare endemic plant. Biological Invasions. 2005;7:615–624.
    1. Nei M, Maruyama T, Chakraborty R. Bottleneck Effect and Genetic-Variability in Populations. Evolution. 1975;29:1–10. - PubMed

Publication types