Population genetic structure and conservation of the lesser white-fronted goose Anser erythropus
Minna Ruokonen1*,Laura Kvist1,Tomas Aarvak2,Juha Markkola1,Vladimir
V.Morozov3,Ingar J.Øien2,Eugeny E.Syroechkovsky Jr.4,Petteri Tolvanen5&Jaakko Lumme1
1Department of Biology,University of Oulu,POB 3000,FIN-90014 Oulu,Finland;
2Norwegian Ornitho-
logical Society,Sandgata 30B,N-7012 Trondheim,Norway;
3Russian Research Institute for Nature Pro-
tection,Znamenskoye-Sadki,Moscow 113628,Russia;
4Institute of Ecology and Evolution,Russian Academy
of Science,Leninski Prospect 33,Moscow,Russia;
5WWF Finland,Lintulahdenkatu 10,FIN-00500 Helsinki,
Finland (*Author for correspondence:fax:+358-8-5531061;e-mail:minna.ruokonen@oulu.fi)
Received 25 September 2003;accepted 25 March 2004
Key words:Anser erythropus ,lesser white-fronted goose,Palearctic,management unit,population genetic
structure
Abstract
The lesser white-fronted goose is a sub-Arctic species with a currently fragmented breeding range,which
extends from Fennoscandia to easternmost Siberia.The population started to decline at the beginning of
the last century and,with a current world population estimate of 25,000 individuals,it is the most threa-
tened of the Palearctic goose species.Of these,only 30 –50 pairs breed in Fennoscandia.A fragment of the
control region of mtDNA was sequenced from 110 individuals from four breeding,one staging and two
wintering areas to study geographic subdivisions and gene flow.Sequences de fined 15 mtDNA haplotypes
that were assigned to two mtDNA lineages.Both the mtDNA lineages were found from all sampled
localities indicating a common ancestry and/or some level of gene flow.Analyses of molecular variance
showed signi ficant structuring among populations (/ 0.220,P <0.001).The results presented here to-
gether with ecological data indicate that the lesser white-fronted goose is fragmented into three distinctive
subpopulations,and thus,the conservation status of the species should be reconsidered.
Conservation Genetics 5:501 –512,2004.
2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers.Printed in the Netherlands.
501
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