부산대학교 도서관

Simple Summary: The Brazilian merganser, a critically endangered duck species in South America, was studied using a population genomics approach. This research focused on the genetic diversity of the mergansers in the four remaining wild populations located in Central Brazil. The results showed that there is a low genetic diversity and high levels of inbreeding in individuals across all locations, with a moderate level of genetic differentiation between them. These findings highlight the need for immediate conservation actions to prevent the decline of the Brazilian merganser population and genetic erosion. Genetic monitoring can help implement appropriate in situ and ex situ management strategies to increase the species' long-term survival in its natural environment. The Brazilian merganser (Mergus octosetaceus) is one of the most endangered bird species in South America and comprises less than 250 mature individuals in wild environments. This is a species extremely sensitive to environmental disturbances and restricted to a few "pristine" freshwater habitats in Brazil, and it has been classified as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1994. Thus, biological conservation studies are vital to promote adequate management strategies and to avoid the decline of merganser populations. In this context, to understand the evolutionary dynamics and the current genetic diversity of remaining Brazilian merganser populations, we used the "Genotyping by Sequencing" approach to genotype 923 SNPs in 30 individuals from all known areas of occurrence. These populations revealed a low genetic diversity and high inbreeding levels, likely due to the recent population decline associated with habitat loss. Furthermore, it showed a moderate level of genetic differentiation between all populations located in four separated areas of the highly threatened Cerrado biome. The results indicate that urgent actions for the conservation of the species should be accompanied by careful genetic monitoring to allow appropriate in situ and ex situ management to increase the long-term species' survival in its natural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]