Sex ratio and relatedness in the Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) population of Serbia
2022
Authors:
Davidović, SlobodanMarinković, Saša
Hribšek, Irena
Patenković, Aleksandra
Stamenković-Radak, Marina
Tanasković, Marija
Document Type:
Article (Published version)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract:
Background: Once a widespread species across the region of Southeast Europe, the
Griffon vulture is now confined to small and isolated populations across the Balkan
Peninsula. The population from Serbia represents its biggest and most viable
population that can serve as an important reservoir of genetic diversity from which
the birds can be used for the region’s reintroduction programmes. The available
genetic data for this valuable population are scarce and as a protected species that
belongs to the highly endangered vulture group, it needs to be well described so that it
can be properly managed and used as a restocking population. Considering the
serious recent bottleneck event that the Griffon vulture population from Serbia
experienced we estimated the overall relatedness among the birds from this
population. Sex ratio, another important parameter that shows the vitality and
strength of the population was evaluated as well.
Methods: During the annual monitoring that was performed in the period from
2013–2021, we collected blood samples from individual birds that were marked in the
nests. In total, 169 samples were collected and each was used for molecular sexing
while 58 presumably unrelated birds from different nests were used for inbreeding
and relatedness analyses. The relatedness was estimated using both biparentally (10
microsatellite loci) and uniparentally (Cytb and D-loop I of mitochondrial DNA)
inherited markers.
Results: The level of inbreeding was relatively high and on average it was 8.3% while
the mean number of relatives for each bird was close to three. The sex ratio was close
to 1:1 and for the analysed period of 9 years, it didn’t demonstrate a statistically
significant deviation from the expected ratio of 1:1, suggesting that this is a stable and
healthy population. Our data suggest that, even though a relatively high level of
inbreeding can be detected among the individual birds, the Griffon vulture
population from Serbia can be used as a source population for restocking and
reintroduction programmes in the region. These data combined with previously
observed genetic differentiation between the populations from the Iberian and
Balkan Peninsulas suggest that the introduction of foreign birds should be avoided
and that local birds should be used instead.
Keywords:
Conservation biology; Relatedness; Sex ratio; Gyps fulvus; mtDNA; Microsatellites; Molecular sexing; Serbia; Griffon vulture; Protected speciesSource:
PeerJ, 2022, 10, e14477-Funding / projects:
- Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia, institutional funding - 200007 (University of Belgrade, Institute for Biological Research 'Siniša Stanković') (RS-MESTD-inst-2020-200007)
- Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia, institutional funding - 200178 (University of Belgrade, Faculty of Biology) (RS-MESTD-inst-2020-200178)
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14477
ISSN: 2167-8359