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Humpled Thesis.Pdf ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many individuals and groups collaborated with me on this endeavor and contributed in an infinite number of ways to the research presented herein. Their efforts were crucial and are greatly appreciated, and they are acknowledged in detail at the end of each thesis chapter. A number of these individuals will be co-authors on the manuscripts that will be published from this work. The genetic components of this thesis required significant effort go into acquiring samples, either by catching live birds, collecting samples from carcasses, or through collaborations with other researchers and organizations; this involved the efforts of many individuals to whom I am grateful. A different set of individuals – made up of friends and family as well as colleagues at PRBO Conservation Science – deserve special acknowledgement for the support they gave me during this period. I additionally thank many of them for the helpful and interesting discussions we have had about grebes over the years. I shall never forget the picture, as I stood in water more than waist deep, of one of these beautiful ‘swan grebes’ sailing out from a dense wall of cat-tails, causing scarcely a ripple as it glided along, the body submerged, the long white neck sharply outlined against the green background, the glossy crown, the fiery red eyes, and the javelin-like beak. Who could help admiring such a picture of aquatic grace, such specialized mastery of its native element? ... The western grebe is certainly a water nymph of the first class, built for speed and action, the most highly specialized of all our diving birds. – Arthur C. Bent, 1919, Western Grebe species account, Life Histories of North American Diving Birds, Dover Publications, Inc., New York. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. CHARACTERIZATION OF MICROSATELLITE LOCI FOR WESTERN GREBE ( AECHMOPHORUS OCCIDENTALIS ) AND CLARK’S GREBE ( A. CLARKII ) AND THEIR APPLICATION TO OTHER GREBE SPECIES......................................... 1 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 1 STUDY SPECIES AND METHODS ............................................................................. 2 RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................ 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ 6 LITERATURE CITED ................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER 2. PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF POPULATION STRUCTURE, MIGRATORY CONNECTIVITY, AND MOVEMENT PATTERNS IN WESTERN AND CLARK’S GREBES ............................................................................................... 12 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. 12 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 13 Focal Species and Relevance .................................................................................... 16 Review of Western Grebe Movements and Population Structure ............................ 20 Population Structure and Philopatry .................................................................... 20 Migratory Connectivity ......................................................................................... 21 METHODS AND ANALYSIS ..................................................................................... 23 Preliminary Assessment of Population Structure ..................................................... 23 Genetic Sampling .................................................................................................. 23 Selection of Samples and Populations for Preliminary Population Structure Analysis ................................................................................................................. 25 Extraction, PCR, and Genetic Analyzer Methods ................................................. 26 Population Assessment .......................................................................................... 27 Assessment of Grebe Movements from Banding Data ............................................. 29 RESULTS ..................................................................................................................... 30 Preliminary Assessment of Population Structure ..................................................... 30 Equilibrium Tests .................................................................................................. 30 Western Grebe Populations .................................................................................. 31 Clark’s vs. Western Grebes ................................................................................... 32 Assessment of Grebe Movements from Banding Data ............................................. 33 Between Year Encounters (Site Fidelity) .............................................................. 36 Within Season Encounters (General Movement Patterns) ................................... 36 Recoveries of Rehabilitated Oiled Grebes ............................................................ 37 DISCUSSION AND FUTURE NEEDS ....................................................................... 39 Population Structure.................................................................................................. 39 Genetic Differences between Western and Clark’s Grebes ...................................... 42 Assessing Movements with Banding and Encounter Data ....................................... 44 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 47 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... 49 LITERATURE CITED ................................................................................................. 51 vii CHAPTER 3 ..................................................................................................................... 77 AGE AND SEX RATIOS OF WESTERN AND CLARK’S GREBES KILLED IN TWO OIL SPILLS AND AN ALGAL BLOOM IN COASTAL CALIFORNIA ...................... 77 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. 77 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 78 METHODS ................................................................................................................... 82 Statistical Analyses ................................................................................................... 84 RESULTS ..................................................................................................................... 85 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................... 87 Age and Sex Structure .............................................................................................. 87 Bursa of Fabricius ..................................................................................................... 88 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 89 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... 91 LITERATURE CITED ................................................................................................. 92 viii TABLES, FIGURES AND APPENDICES Chapter 1 Table 1 Tetranucleotide microsatellite loci developed for Western Grebe ( A. occidentalis ) and screened on 16 individuals of each Aechmophorus species (Western Grebe and Clark’s Grebes, A. clarkii )1...................................................... 10 Table 2. Success of amplification and allele size for 1 individual of each of the 5 other North American grebe species using tetranucleotide microsatellites developed for Western Grebe. .................................................................................................... 11 Chapter 2 Figure 1. Selected sites for preliminary analysis of population structure in Western Grebes ....................................................................................................................... 57 Figure 2. Between-season recoveries of banded birds from data provided by the Bird Banding Lab, 1934-2008 .......................................................................................... 58 Table 1. Characteristics of microsatellite loci selected for preliminary Western Grebe population structure assessment across five localities and for Western/Clark’s Grebe genetic differentiation study ........................................................................... 59 Table 2. Private alleles by Western Grebe locality ................................................... 60 Table 3. Mean sample size, number of alleles/locus, and observed ( ....................... 61 Table 4. Pairwise Fst values for 5 Western Grebe localities using 6 loci ................. 62 Table 5. Private alleles by species ............................................................................ 63 Appendix 1. Western and Clark’s Grebe samples acquired
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