Amanda Markee

Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Saarinen, Emily

Area of Concentration

Biology

Abstract

In light of exponentially increasing human influences on the environment, there has never been a more important time for endangered species conservation. Likewise, as the negative effects of climate change continue to alter abiotic and biotic factors which allow species to persist, habitat specialists are explicitly at risk of becoming endangered. Habitat fragmentation is occurring synergistically in the presence of human development, which restricts gene flow, causing higher instances of negative genetic consequences. In rare specialized species, these consequences can more often than not lead to extirpation, or in the worst cases, extinction. The Florida Duskywing butterfly (Ephyriades brunnea) is a habitat specialist restricted to extreme South Florida, with little known existing life history data. By using population genetics techniques, I used four isolated microsatellite loci to assess the genetic status of three Florida Duskywing populations. These loci specifically assessed heterozygosity in terms of Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium, as well as allelic diversity and richness, and genetic differentiation between all three populations. I found that genetic diversity between the two largest populations has remained at a moderate level under the given circumstances. This study outlines several hypotheses which could explain the maintained level of diversity, including a recent geographic split which disrupted historic gene flow, and several unknown methods of dispersal.

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