Abstract for presentation at Biodiversity Extinction Crisis Conference - A Pacific Response

Low levels of genetic diversity in a population of the brush-tailed rock-wallaby in central New South Wales

  • Justyna Paplinska, The University of Melbourne, Australia
  • Dr Mark Eldridge, The Australian Museum, Australia
  • Lucy Clausen, Department of Sustainability and Environment, Australia
  • Melinda Norton, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Australia
  • Jim Reside, Wildlife Unlimited, Australia
  • Dr David Taggart, The University of Adelaide, Australia

    • The brush-tailed rock-wallaby (Petrogale penicillata) is a small wallaby which inhabits rocky outcrops along the east coast of Australia. This species is listed as Critically Endangered in Victoria (Vic), Endangered in New South Wales (NSW) and Vulnerable in Queensland (Qld) and has been provisionally divided into three Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUs) based on mtDNA data– a Vic ESU, a central NSW ESU and an ESU at the NSW/ Qld border. The current study measured levels of genetic diversity in a population of P. penicillata in Kangaroo Valley in the central NSW ESU and compared them to levels of diversity in populations from Vic, NSW and Qld. DNA was extracted from epithelial cells washed from the outside of 41 faecal samples collected from the wild and amplified in triplicate PCRs using 12 microsatellite markers and one sex-linked marker. Consensus genotypes were constructed and assembled into groups of matching genotypes using GIMLET 1.3.3 yielding 19 unique genotypes (7 female and 12 male), however, a proper estimate of population size was not possible due to a lack of sufficient replicates of each genotype. Average expected heterozygosity (HE) and rarefacted allelic richness (A) in the Kangaroo Valley population (HE=0.37, A=2.42) were lower than average expected heterozygosity and rarefacted allelic richness in other populations in NSW (Wolgan Valley HE=0.67, A=4.82, Watagans HE=0.70, A=5.2) and southern Qld (Hurdle Creek Valley HE=0.65, A=5.33) but similar to those found in Vic populations (Farm Creek HE=0.49, A=2.58, Rocky Plains Creek HE=0.34, A=1.9). These results suggest that the Kangaroo Valley population has been subject to population processes similar to those of the Critically Endangered brush-tailed rock-wallaby in Victoria and indicate that a good estimate of the census and effective population sizes is necessary to establish the conservation status of this population.

    Conference Organiser - ICMS Pty Ltd