Breeding site fidelity and winter admixture in a long-distance migrant, the tufted duck (Aythya fuligula).

ABSTRACT: Long-distance migrants are, by definition, highly mobile but it is poorly understood if this leads to high rates of gene flow and an essentially panmictic global population structure. Genetic divergence in migratory species could be promoted, for example, by fidelity to distinct migratory pathways. In this study, we investigate the population genetic structure of tufted duck (Aythya fuligula), a long-distance migrant with a largely continuous breeding distribution across Eurasia. Distinct, longitudinally oriented flyways have been postulated based on geographically disjunct wintering areas and are supported by evidence from ringing data. We generated sequences of the mitochondrial control region and multi-locus microsatellite genotypes for several hundreds of samples from the European and

SUBMITTER: Liu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3400747 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature