Meeting Abstract
North America’s most endangered bird, the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum floridanus), is on the verge of extinction with fewer than 200 total individuals inhabiting three remaining geographic populations in south Florida. To aid in preserving this species and to assess its current genetic diversity relative to prior sampling periods (i.e., 1881-1939 and 1995-1998), 26 individuals from one of the remaining populations (Three Lakes WMA) were genotyped at each of the six microsatellite loci analyzed in prior studies. Despite continued decline in population census size, all loci remain highly polymorphic and there has been virtually no alteration in gene diversity, nor any strong evidence of system of mating inbreeding. The results of this study indicate that declines in population census size do not appear to be due to a loss in genetic variation associated with genetic drift, a result that has positive implications for the establishment of successful captive breeding programs. Ongoing research based on these samples includes the development of a PCR-based sex determination test, an analysis of the genome structure of the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, and analyses of changes in mitochondrial DNA diversity over the same timeframe analyzed here.
