GLOBAL POPULATION STRUCTURE AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THE GREEN TURTLE (CHELONIA MYDAS) IN TERMS OF MATRIARCHAL PHYLOGENY

Brian W Bowen; Anne B Meylan; J Perran Ross; Colin J Limpus; George H Balazs; John C Avise

doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.1992.tb00605.x

GLOBAL POPULATION STRUCTURE AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THE GREEN TURTLE (CHELONIA MYDAS) IN TERMS OF MATRIARCHAL PHYLOGENY

Evolution. 1992 Aug;46(4):865-881. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1992.tb00605.x.

Authors

Brian W Bowen¹, Anne B Meylan², J Perran Ross³, Colin J Limpus⁴, George H Balazs⁵, John C Avise¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Genetics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA.
² Department of Natural Resources, Florida Marine Research Institute, 100 Eighth Ave., S.E., St. Petersburg, FL, 33701-5095, USA.
³ Department of Natural Sciences, Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA.
⁴ Queensland National Park and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 155, North Quay, Queensland, AUSTRALIA, 4002.
⁵ National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Honolulu Laboratory, 2570 Dole St., Honolulu HI, 96822-2396, USA.

PMID: 28564410
DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1992.tb00605.x

Abstract

To address aspects of the evolution and natural history of green turtles, we assayed mitochondrial (mt) DNA genotypes from 226 specimens representing 15 major rookeries around the world. Phylogenetic analyses of these data revealed (1) a comparatively low level of mtDNA variability and a slow mtDNA evolutionary rate (relative to estimates for many other vertebrates); (2) a fundamental phylogenetic split distinguishing all green turtles in the Atlantic-Mediterranean from those in the Indian-Pacific Oceans; (3) no evidence for matrilineal distinctiveness of a commonly recognized taxonomic form in the East Pacific (the black turtle C.m. agassizi or C. agassizi); (4) in opposition to published hypotheses, a recent origin for the Ascension Island rookery, and its close genetic relationship to a geographically proximate rookery in Brazil; and (5) a geographic population substructure within each ocean basin (typically involving fixed or nearly fixed genotypic differences between nesting populations) that suggests a strong propensity for natal homing by females. Overall, the global matriarchal phylogeny of Chelonia mydas appears to have been shaped by both geography (ocean basin separations) and behavior (natal homing on regional or rookery-specific scales). The shallow evolutionary population structure within ocean basins likely results from demographic turnover (extinction and colonization) of rookeries over time frames that are short by evolutionary standards but long by ecological standards.

Keywords: Biogeography; Chelonia agassizi; Chelonia mydas; conservation genetics; mitochondrial DNA; molecular clock; molecular systematics; natal homing.