LE3 .A278 2013

2013

Mallory, Mark

Acadia University

Bachelor of Science

Honours

Biology

Biology

The Purple Sandpiper (Calidris maritima) is a small shorebird that breeds in the Arctic and winters along northern coastlines. It has a wide geographic distribution, ranging from Nunavut, east to Greenland, Iceland, and Norway in the summer, and wintering farther south along eastern North America and western Europe. Due to difficulty in recapturing banded birds, migration routes between breeding grounds and wintering grounds are poorly understood. Populations appear to be declining, and future conservation efforts for this species will benefit from a thorough understanding of their migration patterns. This study uses two mitochondrial DNA loci to identify underlying genetic differences between breeding populations of Purple Sandpipers. Samples were taken from wintering locations along the coast of Maine, as well as from breeding locations in northern and southern Nunavut. Results indicate some genetic structure present within the samples tested, though variation is not specific to either breeding location. These results lay the groundwork for further analyses using both mitochondrial loci and microsatellite markers.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:954