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The geographic scale of genetic differentiation in the feral pigeon (Columba livia): implications for management

  • Jacob, Gwenaël Laboratoire Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, CNRS-AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France - Department of Biology, Unit of Ecology & Evolution, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
  • Prévot-Julliard, Anne-Caroline Laboratoire Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, CNRS-AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France - Centre des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO), Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, France
  • Baudry, Emmanuelle Laboratoire Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, CNRS-AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France
    22.05.2014
Published in:
  • Biological Invasions. - 2015, vol. 17, no. 1, p. 23–29
Genetic structure
Problem species
Management
Dispersal Isolation-by-distance
Feral pigeon
Columba livia
English Understanding the genetic connectivity among populations of spreading and problematic species is important to determine the spatial scale at which management actions need to be conducted. The feral pigeon (Columba livia) is considered to be a pest or an invasive species in many cities around the world, leading to frequent attempts to control its populations. In the present study, we used microsatellites markers to investigate the relationship between genetic structure and geographic distance among feral pigeons from different locations, and the patterns of genetic differentiation at two geographic scales, within and between urbanised areas. A Mantel’s test revealed that the levels of genetic differentiation increased significantly with the geographic distance separating the locations. We also found that neighbouring locations within urban areas are usually not genetically differentiated, suggesting that all of the feral pigeons in an urban zone constitute a single management unit. Our results suggest that in large, interconnected cities control by culling at the scale of a neighbourhood, in addition of generating ethical issues, will not be effective to decrease pigeon population sizes.
Faculty
Faculté des sciences et de médecine
Department
Département de Biologie
Language
  • English
Classification
Biological sciences
License
License undefined
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/304177
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