RADIONUCLIDE CONTAMINATION AS AN INFLUENCE ON THE MORPHOLOGY AND GENETIC-STRUCTURE OF PERIODICAL CICADA (MAGICICADA-CASSINI) POPULATIONS

Horizontal starch gel electrophoresis of enzymes and multivariate analysis of morphometric variations were used to compare the genetic structure of cicada populations, Magicicada cassini, collected from a radionuclide contaminated site with those collected from four reference sites. Homogeneity was observed between sites at the phosphoglucomutase (PGM) and alpha-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase (alpha-GPDH) loci. Heterogeneity was found among populations within the contaminated site at the alpha-GPDH loci. The esterase (EST-2,3,5) loci examined were heterogeneous between sites and among populations. With few exceptions little morphometric variation was discovered between cicada populations. However, more morphometric variation was observed among populations within sites. The data indicate that population genetic structure of cicadas from the uranium production facility was not affected by soil contamination. Morphological patterns were unique in cicadas from one population at the facility.