Molecular sexing of threatened Gyps vultures: an important strategy for conservation breeding and ecological studies

Ghorpade, Prabhakar Bhanudas; Gupta, Praveen Kumar; Prakash, Vibhu; Cuthbert, Richard; Kulkarni, Mandar; Prakash, Nikita; Das, Asit; Sharma, Anil Kumar; Saini, Mohini

doi:10.1186/2193-1801-1-62

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 41 publications

(65 reference statements)

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“…Assessing the sex ratio in the population is an important factor in determining the strength and health of a population and is of great importance considering the managing strategies for small and endangered populations ( Ghorpade et al, 2012 ; Griffiths & Tiwari, 1995 ; Lambertucci et al, 2013 ; Robertson et al, 2006 ). In monogamous species, the optimal sex ratio among adult birds that maximizes population growth is 1:1 ( Legendre, 2004 ) and it is expected to be in equilibrium at birth ( Cockburn, Legge & Double, 2002 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex ratio and relatedness in the Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) population of Serbia

Davidović

Marinković

Hribšek

et al. 2022

PeerJ

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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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex ratio and relatedness in the Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) population of Serbia

Davidović

Marinković

Hribšek

et al. 2022

PeerJ

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“…Hence, we designed two primer pairs (CytbV1 and CytbV2) that amplify short fragments from the 5' end of cytochrome b gene of the mitochondrial genome. While the use of primers targeting the chromohelicase-DNA binding gene has previously been described to sex Gyps vultures (Ghorpade et al, 2012), the W-specific primer targeted a longer fragment (258bp) and we therefore redesigned a set of primers targeting the ZW-common (VsexZW) and W-specific (VsexW, female) regions.…”

Section: Metabarcoding Primersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metabarcoding for parallel identification of species, sex and diet of obligate scavengers: an application to globally-threatened Gyps vultures

Ghosh-Harihar

Gurung

Shukla

et al. 2020

Conservation Genet Resour

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An understanding of the factors affecting the diet composition of critically endangered Gyps vultures in the Indian subcontinent has important applications to the design of effective conservation strategies. After suffering a massive decline (~99%) in numbers caused by veterinary use of the nephrotoxic drug diclofenac, vultures now persist in very low numbers, mostly concentrated within or near National Parks. This spatial association might be attributed to the availability of wild ungulate carcasses free from toxic veterinary drugs. Hence, quantification of vulture diets and the factors affecting them is critical to test this hypothesis. Here, we describe and validate a robust "field-to-benchtop-to-desktop" metabarcoding workflow for assessing the species-and sex-specific diet of these obligate scavengers from non-invasively collected faecal samples. Seven metabarcodes targeting mitochondrial and nuclear genes were used to simultaneously determine the vulture species identity, sex and species consumed. The amplicons were sequenced using an Illumina Miseq platform.We included controls and three replicates per sample to establish a series of nonarbitrary thresholds to filter the sequence data and eliminate cross-contamination, PCR/sequencing errors and false positives. Using this strategy enabled identification of species and sex for all samples. Diet species-specific sequences could be identified with high taxonomic resolution for 93% of samples. Out of the seven metabarcodes, just four were sufficient to meet the objectives. From this preliminary analysis, domestic livestock seem to be the most frequently consumed diet item across samples from inside and outside protected habitats. Our method provides a rapid and reliable tool for describing large-scale variation in consumption of domestic versus wild species in the diet of these species, paving the way for a better understanding of the

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“…Accurate sexing is essential for understanding species ecology and implementing effective conservation measures (Ghorpade et al ., 2012). Several techniques (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Primers for Sexing Juvenile Buntings and to Assist Ex-Situ Conservation of Endangered Eastern Iberian Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus witherbyi Populations

Alambiaga,

Monrós,

Palero

2023

Ardeola

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SummaryAccurate sex determination of an individual is essential for understanding the ecology of a species and to implement effective conservation measures. Molecular sexing is proving to be an effective tool to determine the sex ratio of difficult-to-sex species as well as for establishing breeding pairs in ex situ conservation programmes. In the last few decades, a putatively universal set of primers, based on the so-called intron A of the CHD1 gene, has been used to sex birds through PCR. Nevertheless, several issues have been reported in several taxa for which more specific alternative protocols are needed. In this paper we present a new pair of markers based on the so-called intron E of the CHD1 gene and designed for sexing difficult-to-sex Old World bunting Emberiza spp. individuals. This method was then used for supporting an ongoing Eastern Iberian Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus witherbyi breeding programme and to estimate, for the first time, the sex ratio of this critically endangered passerine. Newly designed primers allowed for more rapid and accurate sex determination compared to other previously developed markers tested here, thanks to larger size differences between CHD1W and CHD1Z PCR products and lower allelic drop-out frequency. Our results suggest no significant sex bias in the Eastern Iberian Reed Bunting resident population (male:female ratio 0.8:1), as opposed to strongly female-biased estimates (up to male:female ratio 0.33:1) previously recorded in Spain for wintering populations. Differences in sex ratio estimates between resident and wintering populations could arise from a latitudinal sex segregation in Reed Buntings due to differential migration, and highlight the importance of using resident populations to obtain key demographic parameters. Future work should focus on sampling resident populations to better characterise local variations in sex ratio, to obtain relevant data for the management of threatened subspecies.—Alambiaga, I., Monrós, J.S. & Palero, F. (2024). New primers for sexing juvenile buntings and to assist ex-situ conservation of endangered Eastern Iberian Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus witherbyi populations. Ardeola, 71: 119-130.

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Molecular sexing of threatened Gyps vultures: an important strategy for conservation breeding and ecological studies

Cited by 9 publications

References 41 publications

Sex ratio and relatedness in the Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) population of Serbia

Sex ratio and relatedness in the Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) population of Serbia

Metabarcoding for parallel identification of species, sex and diet of obligate scavengers: an application to globally-threatened Gyps vultures

New Primers for Sexing Juvenile Buntings and to Assist Ex-Situ Conservation of Endangered Eastern Iberian Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus witherbyi Populations

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