Journal article
A single panmictic population of endemic red crabs, Gecarcoidea natalis, on Christmas Island with high levels of genetic diversity
AR Weeks, MJ Smith, A van Rooyen, D Maple, AD Miller
Conservation Genetics | SPRINGER | Published : 2014
Abstract
The red crab, Gecarcoidea natalis, is endemic to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean and largely responsible for shaping the unique ecosystem found throughout the island's rainforests. However, the introduction and establishment of supercolonies of the highly invasive yellow crazy ant, Anoplolepis gracilipes, has decimated red crab numbers over the last several decades. This poses a significant risk to the future conservation of G. natalis and consequently threatens the integrity of the unique island ecosystem. Here we undertook a population genetic analysis of G. natalis using a combination of 11 microsatellite markers and sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene f..
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Funding Acknowledgements
We thank The Director of National Parks (Australia) for funding this project. ARW was funded by the Australian Research Council via their ARC Research Fellowship program.