Genetic variability and population genetic structure in the Caucasian Parsley Frog, Pelodytes caucasicus (Boulenger, 1896) based on microsatellite markers

Abstract

The Caucasian Parsley Frog, Pelodytes caucasicus (Boulenger, 1896), is endemic to Caucasia, and its population is decreasing. Here, we present information on the genetic structure and diversity of populations from four provinces of Türkiye (Giresun, Trabzon, Rize, and Artvin) using microsatellite markers. Despite their small geographic range, the species’ populations showed moderate genetic differentiation, which could be a result of rapid genetic drift. Our results show that Trabzon and Giresun populations are genetically different from those of Rize and Artvin. We found considerably low genetic diversity in Artvin, Trabzon, and Giresun populations. The inbreeding co-efficient is also high in those localities (HO<HE). Despite low genetic diversity and a high inbreeding coefficient, we could not find any sign of a genetic bottleneck.

Keywords:

• Genetic diversity
• Caucasian Parsley Frog
• population decline

Acknowledgements

The sampling was carried out with the permission of the local ethics committee for animal experiments (approval reference no. 2019/09-08). We thank Gökhan Kalaycı and Emin Ergül for their assistance with fieldwork.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Grant ID: 121Z897).