Despite the protection of gopher tortoises, Gopherus polyphemus, in the western portion of their range for over twenty years, populations of the De Soto National Forest (DNF) in southern Mississippi experience low recruitment and lower hatching success than populations in the eastern portion of the range, and the causes of this are unknown. Previous work has shown that Mississippi populations of the DNF have lower levels of genetic diversity than eastern populations, which prompted the suggestion that reduced levels of genetic variation may play a part in low hatching success. Small populations can become more susceptible to the effects of inbreeding which can have negative effects on fitness of offspring. Using a microsatellite-based approach, I assessed genetic variation at two sites in south Mississippi that have different levels of recruitment to test for a correlation between genetic variation and survivorship. T44 at Camp Shelby is a low recruitment site, and Hillsdale is a high recruitment site. I found evidence of a heterozygosity fitness correlation among tortoises belonging to different age classes in the Hillsdale population. Multilocus genotypic data was also used to perform parentage assessments to characterize the mating systems and movements of both populations. Both populations demonstrated unequal reproductive success among adult tortoises, and spatial analyses revealed strong colony fidelity within populations even across several years.
","abstract_html":"<p>Despite the protection of gopher tortoises, <em>Gopherus polyphemus</em>, in the western portion of their range for over twenty years, populations of the De Soto National Forest (DNF) in southern Mississippi experience low recruitment and lower hatching success than populations in the eastern portion of the range, and the causes of this are unknown. Previous work has shown that Mississippi populations of the DNF have lower levels of genetic diversity than eastern populations, which prompted the suggestion that reduced levels of genetic variation may play a part in low hatching success. Small populations can become more susceptible to the effects of inbreeding which can have negative effects on fitness of offspring. Using a microsatellite-based approach, I assessed genetic variation at two sites in south Mississippi that have different levels of recruitment to test for a correlation between genetic variation and survivorship. T44 at Camp Shelby is a low recruitment site, and Hillsdale is a high recruitment site. I found evidence of a heterozygosity fitness correlation among tortoises belonging to different age classes in the Hillsdale population. Multilocus genotypic data was also used to perform parentage assessments to characterize the mating systems and movements of both populations. Both populations demonstrated unequal reproductive success among adult tortoises, and spatial analyses revealed strong colony fidelity within populations even across several years.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Getz, Angela Huang"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":"Biological Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Brian Kreiser","Carl Qualls","Mark Welch"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2013-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:44:58Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/485","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Brian Kreiser","Carl Qualls","Mark Welch"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Getz, Angela Huang"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2018-11-09T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Biological Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/485"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Despite the protection of gopher tortoises, Gopherus polyphemus, in the western portion of their range for over twenty years, populations of the De Soto National Forest (DNF) in southern Mississippi experience low recruitment and lower hatching success than populations in the eastern portion of the range, and the causes of this are unknown. Previous work has shown that Mississippi populations of the DNF have lower levels of genetic diversity than eastern populations, which prompted the suggestion that reduced levels of genetic variation may play a part in low hatching success. Small populations can become more susceptible to the effects of inbreeding which can have negative effects on fitness of offspring. Using a microsatellite-based approach, I assessed genetic variation at two sites in south Mississippi that have different levels of recruitment to test for a correlation between genetic variation and survivorship. T44 at Camp Shelby is a low recruitment site, and Hillsdale is a high recruitment site. I found evidence of a heterozygosity fitness correlation among tortoises belonging to different age classes in the Hillsdale population. Multilocus genotypic data was also used to perform parentage assessments to characterize the mating systems and movements of both populations. Both populations demonstrated unequal reproductive success among adult tortoises, and spatial analyses revealed strong colony fidelity within populations even across several years.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Conservation Genetics of Threatened Gopher Tortoises, Gopherus polyphemus: An Assessment of Genetic Variation and Parentage in Two Populations in South Mississippi"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Brian Kreiser","Carl Qualls","Mark Welch"],"dc:creator":["Getz, Angela Huang"],"dc:date.available":["2018-11-09T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Despite the protection of gopher tortoises, Gopherus polyphemus, in the western portion of their range for over twenty years, populations of the De Soto National Forest (DNF) in southern Mississippi experience low recruitment and lower hatching success than populations in the eastern portion of the range, and the causes of this are unknown. Previous work has shown that Mississippi populations of the DNF have lower levels of genetic diversity than eastern populations, which prompted the suggestion that reduced levels of genetic variation may play a part in low hatching success. Small populations can become more susceptible to the effects of inbreeding which can have negative effects on fitness of offspring. Using a microsatellite-based approach, I assessed genetic variation at two sites in south Mississippi that have different levels of recruitment to test for a correlation between genetic variation and survivorship. T44 at Camp Shelby is a low recruitment site, and Hillsdale is a high recruitment site. I found evidence of a heterozygosity fitness correlation among tortoises belonging to different age classes in the Hillsdale population. Multilocus genotypic data was also used to perform parentage assessments to characterize the mating systems and movements of both populations. Both populations demonstrated unequal reproductive success among adult tortoises, and spatial analyses revealed strong colony fidelity within populations even across several years.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/485"],"dc:title":["Conservation Genetics of Threatened Gopher Tortoises, Gopherus polyphemus: An Assessment of Genetic Variation and Parentage in Two Populations in South Mississippi"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Biological Sciences"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:44:58Z"}