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Mitochondrial microsatellite sequences improve the resolution of genetic structure in western Greater Caribbean green turtle nesting populations

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Abstract

Understanding the spatial scale of population processes is critical for contextualizing monitoring and prioritizing conservation actions. Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) abundance in the Greater Caribbean (GC) region is rebounding from centuries of overexploitation, but recovery trajectories vary among nesting populations. Maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA control region (CR) markers can link juveniles to their source populations, providing spatial ecology context for interpreting differential population trends. However, CR haplotype CM-A3 is shared across all western GC sites, limiting resolution. In this study, 387 females from Tortuguero, Costa Rica, the largest nesting population in the western Atlantic, were reanalyzed through sequencing of an expanded (817-base pair) CR fragment and the mitochondrial short tandem repeat (mtSTR) array. Variation in mtSTR sequences yielded 12 Tortuguero CM-A3 haplotypes. No structure was detected in mtSTR haplotype frequencies spatially or temporally within the Tortuguero rookery. In GC regional comparisons, Tortuguero CM-A3 mtSTR haplotype frequencies were significantly different from those of published Cayman Islands and major Florida nesting populations. This improved resolution of genetic structure reinforces the inference of demographic discreteness of these nesting populations with respect to female natal homing. Furthermore, these refinements provide critical baseline data to reduce uncertainty in future mixed stock analyses. The mtSTR may prove useful in resolving stock structure and migratory connectivity in green turtles in other regions where common CR haplotypes are broadly distributed.

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Fig. 1
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Data availability

Novel sequences were submitted to Genbank. Sampling metadata and haplotype data are provided in Online Resource 1.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Sea Turtle Conservancy staff and volunteers who collected the tissue samples at Tortuguero, Costa Rica, particularly Emma Harrison and Catalina Reyes who supervised the field operation in 2001 and 2002. We thank Ginger Clark, director of the Genetics Analysis Lab at the University of Florida, for the original haplotype determinations. Thanks to technicians and undergraduate students in the Shamblin lab for assistance with sample processing, DNA extractions, and sequencing reactions. We thank two anonymous reviewers for improving the quality of this manuscript.

Funding

Funding was provided by the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources.

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Author notes

  1. Alan B. Bolten—deceased.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Brian M. Shamblin

  2. Department of Biology and Archie Carr Center Department of for Sea Turtle Research, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Alan B. Bolten & Karen A. Bjorndal

Authors
  1. Brian M. Shamblin
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  2. Alan B. Bolten
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  3. Karen A. Bjorndal
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Alan Bolten and Karen Bjorndal provided samples for reanalysis. Brian Shamblin performed analyses. Brian Shamblin and Karen Bjorndal drafted the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brian M. Shamblin.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Compliance with ethical standards

Samples were collected in compliance with Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee guidelines from the University of Florida. Samples were authorized under appropriate Costa Rica Ministry of the Environment collection and CITES export permits.

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Responsible Editor: C. Eizaguirre.

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Shamblin, B.M., Bolten, A.B. & Bjorndal, K.A. Mitochondrial microsatellite sequences improve the resolution of genetic structure in western Greater Caribbean green turtle nesting populations. Mar Biol 170, 115 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-023-04256-7

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