SREL Reprint #1919

Genetic structure in a wintering population of American Coots

Susan McAlpine1, Olin E. Rhodes Jr.2, Clark D. McCreedy3, and I. Lehr Brisbin Jr.2

1The Nature Conservancy, 315 Alexander St., Rochester, New York 14604
2Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29802
3Dept. of Veterinary Pathology, 1027 Lunn Hall, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-1027

Introduction: American Coots (Fulica americana) wintering on the Savannah River Site (SRS), near Aiken, South Carolina, arrive in stages and exhibit temporally stable patterns of site fidelity. Site fidelity in color-marked coots was observed both throughout the winter and across years (Potter 1987) on various portions of Par Pond reservoir on the SRS. In addition, Brisbin et al. (1973) and Potter (1987) found that cesium-137 body burdens of coots differed significantly between birds from different sites on this reservoir and varied in accordance with the levels of contamination in those sites. These data led us to ask whether the birds from these sites represented distinct and stable population-specific or demographic cohorts which arrived at the reservoir in the same temporal sequence each year and, therefore, were structured on the reservoir with regard to population of origin.

SREL Reprint #1919

McAlpine, S., O.E. Rhodes Jr., C.D. McCreedy, and I.L. Brisbin Jr. 1994. Genetic structure in a wintering population of American Coots (Fulica americana). The Wilson Bulletin 106:738-743. 

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).