GENETIC-STRUCTURE OF REINTRODUCED WILD TURKEY AND WHITE-TAILED DEER POPULATIONS

Although reintroductions are an important management tool, little is known about their effects on the genetic structure of wildlife species. We studied wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) populations from the eastern United States to determine if the genetic similarity of populations was more affected by geographic proximity or by possible gene flow resulting from reintroduction programs. We examined allele frequencies at 5 polymorphic loci for turkeys from 22 locations and at 15 polymorphic loci for deer from 21 locations and compared genetic distances among populations for both species to geographic distances and reintroduction histories. For both species, genetic distances were smaller between pairs of populations that either had individuals transferred between them or that had both received individuals from a common source population than were distances between pairs of populations that had not been connected by reintroductions (P < 0.001). Geographic proximity of populations of both turkeys and deer was not associated with genetic similarity (P = 0.280 and 0.520, respectively). Reintroductions may have obscured genetic patterns resulting from other evolutionary processes such as gene flow through dispersal. Additionally, post-reintroduction dispersal has not erased the genetic contributions of reintroduced individuals to the populations they established. Reintroduction programs should attempt to create populations with high levels of genetic diversity and avoid unnecessary disruption of the evolutionary relationships among populations of a species.