School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e31486. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031486. Epub 2012 Feb 2.
Mitochondrial DNA analyses have been useful for resolving maternal lineages and migratory behavior to foraging grounds (FG) in sea turtles. However, little is known about source rookeries and haplotype composition of foraging green turtle aggregations in the southeastern Pacific. We used mitochondrial DNA control region sequences to identify the haplotype composition of 55 green turtles, Chelonia mydas, captured in foraging grounds of Gorgona National Park in the Colombian Pacific. Amplified fragments of the control region (457 bp) revealed the presence of seven haplotypes, with haplotype (h) and nucleotide (π) diversities of h = 0.300±0.080 and π = 0.009±0.005 respectively. The most common haplotype was CMP4 observed in 83% of individuals, followed by CMP22 (5%). The genetic composition of the Gorgona foraging population primarily comprised haplotypes that have been found at eastern Pacific rookeries including Mexico and the Galapagos, as well as haplotypes of unknown stock origin that likely originated from more distant western Pacific rookeries. Mixed stock analysis suggests that the Gorgona FG population is comprised mostly of animals from the Galapagos rookery (80%). Lagrangian drifter data showed that movement of turtles along the eastern Pacific coast and eastward from distant western and central Pacific sites was possible through passive drift. Our results highlight the importance of this protected area for conservation management of green turtles recruited from distant sites along the eastern Pacific Ocean.
线粒体 DNA 分析已被证明对于解析海龟的母系遗传和觅食地（FG）迁徙行为非常有用。然而，对于东南太平洋绿海龟觅食群的来源栖息地和单倍型组成知之甚少。我们使用线粒体 DNA 控制区序列来确定在哥伦比亚太平洋的 Gorgona 国家公园觅食地捕获的 55 只绿海龟（Chelonia mydas）的单倍型组成。控制区（457bp）的扩增片段显示存在七种单倍型，单倍型（h）和核苷酸（π）多样性分别为 h=0.300±0.080 和 π=0.009±0.005。最常见的单倍型是在 83%个体中观察到的 CMP4，其次是 CMP22（5%）。Gorgona 觅食群体的遗传组成主要由在东太平洋繁殖地（包括墨西哥和加拉帕戈斯群岛）发现的单倍型以及来源不明的单倍型组成，这些单倍型可能来自更远的西太平洋繁殖地。混合种群分析表明，Gorgona FG 种群主要由来自加拉帕戈斯繁殖地的动物组成（80%）。拉格朗日漂流者数据表明，海龟通过被动漂移沿着东太平洋海岸和从遥远的西太平洋和中太平洋地点向东移动是可能的。我们的研究结果强调了这个保护区对从东太平洋遥远地点招募的绿海龟的保护管理的重要性。
