Message - 7th IAL Symposium

3B-2-O
Lichen: from genome to ecosystem in a changing world
(3B-2-O4) Submission ID: IAL0228-00002
ISLAND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF LOBARIA SECT. LOBARIA IN MACARONESIA
Werth S. 1 , Cheenacharoen S. 1 , Scheidegger C. 1
1 Biodiv. & Conservation Biol., WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
Understanding why some taxa are endemic, whereas others are widespread is an important theme
in evolutionary biology. Do co-distributed endemic and widespread species share biogeographic history, and
do they exhibit similarities in their population structure? Here, we compare migration patterns and population
structure in Lobaria Sect. Lobaria from Macaronesia, featuring two endemic and one widespread species. First,
in order to determine whether the species originated in the same geographic area, we compare genetic diversity
among geographic regions under the assumption that the area of origin has the highest diversity and largest
number of private alleles. Second, drawing on methods borrowed from coalescent theory, we investigate bidirectional
migration rates of each species among three Atlantic archipelagos and the mainland. Our results indicate
that the two endemic species had clear and different centers of genetic diversity, whereas the widespread
species exhibited incongruent results for different markers – its center of origin appears to be located outside
Macaronesia. To conclude, the two endemic species and the widespread species had different biogeographic
histories. These results imply that biological communities may be composed of species with widely different biogeographic
backgrounds, even if their contemporary ranges and ecological niches overlap to a high degree.
(3B-2-O5) Submission ID: IAL0050-00001
LICHEN IDENTIFICATION IN WOODLAND CARIBOU SCAT USING DNA BARCODING
Mcmullin R. T. 1 , Newmaster S. G. 1 , Fazekas A. 1
1 Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Ontario, Guelph, Canada
In Ontario, the woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus subsp. caribou) are in peril due to declining abundance
and range retraction. Conservation efforts have resulted in the designation of woodland caribou as “threatened”
under the provincial Endangered Species Act and the federal Species at Risk Act. Preliminary research
suggests a link between anthropogenic disturbances in vital habitat (e.g., forestry, mining, road construction,
hydro development) and declining numbers in woodland caribou. One hypothesis predicts that regenerating
forests do not provide sufficient supplies of high quality food to meet the energetic requirements for successful
recruitment of yearlings to the breeding population. The role of nutrition is rarely considered and poorly understood
partly due to the fact that nutritional hypotheses are underpinned by diet of which we know very little. We
examined the winter diet of woodland caribou by barcoding dietary components from samples of feces. We
amplified the ITS2 ribosomal region from extracted DNA of fecal samples of 44 caribou animals. PCR products
were cloned and the insert sequenced from individual colonies. These sequences were compared with a newly
created library of lichen barcodes from the region. The results showed that most of the sequences generated
from the caribou fecal samples were identified as lichen fungal symbionts, primarily belonging to the genus Cladonia.
Three lichen species, Cladonia stygia, Cladonia arbuscula, and Cladonia mitis are widely represented in
the caribou samples, being sequenced from almost half or more of the animals sampled. Cladonia rangiferina,
Cladonia stellaris, and Cladonia uncialis were detected in ~20–25% of animals, and the remaining lichen species
were found from only 1–3 individual caribou, contributing a minor amount to the observed dietary diversity.
This research suggests that caribou prefer specific species of lichens, which may be explained by palatability or
variability in the nutritional value among lichen species.
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