Cargando…

Microsatellite Analysis of Museum Specimens Reveals Historical Differences in Genetic Diversity between Declining and More Stable Bombus Species

Worldwide most pollinators, e.g. bumblebees, are undergoing global declines. Loss of genetic diversity can play an essential role in these observed declines. In this paper, we investigated the level of genetic diversity of seven declining Bombus species and four more stable species with the use of m...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Maebe, Kevin, Meeus, Ivan, Ganne, Maarten, De Meulemeester, Thibaut, Biesmeijer, Koos, Smagghe, Guy
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4464549/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26061732
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127870
_version_ 1782375996599566336
author Maebe, Kevin
Meeus, Ivan
Ganne, Maarten
De Meulemeester, Thibaut
Biesmeijer, Koos
Smagghe, Guy
author_facet Maebe, Kevin
Meeus, Ivan
Ganne, Maarten
De Meulemeester, Thibaut
Biesmeijer, Koos
Smagghe, Guy
author_sort Maebe, Kevin
collection PubMed
description Worldwide most pollinators, e.g. bumblebees, are undergoing global declines. Loss of genetic diversity can play an essential role in these observed declines. In this paper, we investigated the level of genetic diversity of seven declining Bombus species and four more stable species with the use of microsatellite loci. Hereto we genotyped a unique collection of museum specimens. Specimens were collected between 1918 and 1926, in 6 provinces of the Netherlands which allowed us to make interspecific comparisons of genetic diversity. For the stable species B. pascuorum, we also selected populations from two additional time periods: 1949–1955 and 1975–1990. The genetic diversity and population structure in B. pascuorum remained constant over the three time periods. However, populations of declining bumblebee species showed a significantly lower genetic diversity than co-occurring stable species before their major declines. This historical difference indicates that the repeatedly observed reduced genetic diversity in recent populations of declining bumblebee species is not caused solely by the decline itself. The historically low genetic diversity in the declined species may be due to the fact that these species were already rare, making them more vulnerable to the major drivers of bumblebee decline.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4464549
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2015
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-44645492015-06-25 Microsatellite Analysis of Museum Specimens Reveals Historical Differences in Genetic Diversity between Declining and More Stable Bombus Species Maebe, Kevin Meeus, Ivan Ganne, Maarten De Meulemeester, Thibaut Biesmeijer, Koos Smagghe, Guy PLoS One Research Article Worldwide most pollinators, e.g. bumblebees, are undergoing global declines. Loss of genetic diversity can play an essential role in these observed declines. In this paper, we investigated the level of genetic diversity of seven declining Bombus species and four more stable species with the use of microsatellite loci. Hereto we genotyped a unique collection of museum specimens. Specimens were collected between 1918 and 1926, in 6 provinces of the Netherlands which allowed us to make interspecific comparisons of genetic diversity. For the stable species B. pascuorum, we also selected populations from two additional time periods: 1949–1955 and 1975–1990. The genetic diversity and population structure in B. pascuorum remained constant over the three time periods. However, populations of declining bumblebee species showed a significantly lower genetic diversity than co-occurring stable species before their major declines. This historical difference indicates that the repeatedly observed reduced genetic diversity in recent populations of declining bumblebee species is not caused solely by the decline itself. The historically low genetic diversity in the declined species may be due to the fact that these species were already rare, making them more vulnerable to the major drivers of bumblebee decline. Public Library of Science 2015-06-10 /pmc/articles/PMC4464549/ /pubmed/26061732 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127870 Text en © 2015 Maebe et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Maebe, Kevin
Meeus, Ivan
Ganne, Maarten
De Meulemeester, Thibaut
Biesmeijer, Koos
Smagghe, Guy
Microsatellite Analysis of Museum Specimens Reveals Historical Differences in Genetic Diversity between Declining and More Stable Bombus Species
title Microsatellite Analysis of Museum Specimens Reveals Historical Differences in Genetic Diversity between Declining and More Stable Bombus Species
title_full Microsatellite Analysis of Museum Specimens Reveals Historical Differences in Genetic Diversity between Declining and More Stable Bombus Species
title_fullStr Microsatellite Analysis of Museum Specimens Reveals Historical Differences in Genetic Diversity between Declining and More Stable Bombus Species
title_full_unstemmed Microsatellite Analysis of Museum Specimens Reveals Historical Differences in Genetic Diversity between Declining and More Stable Bombus Species
title_short Microsatellite Analysis of Museum Specimens Reveals Historical Differences in Genetic Diversity between Declining and More Stable Bombus Species
title_sort microsatellite analysis of museum specimens reveals historical differences in genetic diversity between declining and more stable bombus species
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4464549/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26061732
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0127870
work_keys_str_mv AT maebekevin microsatelliteanalysisofmuseumspecimensrevealshistoricaldifferencesingeneticdiversitybetweendecliningandmorestablebombusspecies
AT meeusivan microsatelliteanalysisofmuseumspecimensrevealshistoricaldifferencesingeneticdiversitybetweendecliningandmorestablebombusspecies
AT gannemaarten microsatelliteanalysisofmuseumspecimensrevealshistoricaldifferencesingeneticdiversitybetweendecliningandmorestablebombusspecies
AT demeulemeesterthibaut microsatelliteanalysisofmuseumspecimensrevealshistoricaldifferencesingeneticdiversitybetweendecliningandmorestablebombusspecies
AT biesmeijerkoos microsatelliteanalysisofmuseumspecimensrevealshistoricaldifferencesingeneticdiversitybetweendecliningandmorestablebombusspecies
AT smaggheguy microsatelliteanalysisofmuseumspecimensrevealshistoricaldifferencesingeneticdiversitybetweendecliningandmorestablebombusspecies