dc.contributor.author	Binns, Loren Ashley
dc.coverage.spatial	United States, Mississippi.	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2018-05-17T16:24:51Z
dc.date.available	2018-05-17T16:24:51Z
dc.date.issued	2018-05
dc.identifier.citation	Binns, Loren Ashley. "Spatial genetic structure of the nine-banded armadillo in western Mississippi." Master's thesis, Valdosta State University, May 2018. https://hdl.handle.net/10428/3068.
dc.identifier.other	A7D24F63-3825-0893-40A8-641C9191E76B	UUID
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10428/3068
dc.description.abstract	The nine-banded armadillo is unique for producing multiple embryos derived from a single fertilized egg (polyembryony), resulting in the production of four genetically identical offspring. Juvenile littermates are known to maintain close proximity to one another during their first summer above ground, but it is uncertain if they remain together as adults. Typically in armadillo populations adults disperse, which may be due to inbreeding avoidance and/or resource competition. There have been multiple studies that have examined sex-biased dispersal in armadillos, but with conflicting results as to which sex disperses. The goal of the present study was to determine whether spatial genetic structure diminishes at a certain life stage (juvenile, adult) within a population and if there are any detectable differences in the degree of genetic structure between the sexes. Genomic DNA from a total of 402 individual armadillos was isolated from ear clip tissue from a wild population of armadillos inhabiting the Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge, Mississippi. Individuals were grouped based on age (juvenile, adult) and further subdivided between the sexes (male, female) for each age group. Genetic measures of spatial autocorrelation based on eight microsatellite loci were used in correlograms to resolve patterns of spatial genetic structure within this population. My results show significant spatial genetic structure in juveniles (both males, females) and adult males, but not adult females. These results support either female-biased dispersal or high variance in male reproductive success (via polygyny). However, further work is required to discriminate between these two possibilities.	en_US
dc.description.tableofcontents	I. INTRODUCTION 1 \| Dispersal in Mammals 2 \| II. METHODS 5 \| Field Sampling 5 \| DNA Extraction and PCR 5 \| Gel Electrophoresis and Genotyping 7 \| Population Genetic Analysis 8 \| Spatial Genetic Analysis 8 \| III. RESULTS 10 \| Spatial Genetic Structure 10 \| IV. DISCUSSION 13 \| BIBLIOGRAPHY 19 \| APPENDIX A: Genetic Diversity Measures of Eight Genetic Markers 24 \| APPENDIX B: Spatial Correlograms of Nine-Banded Armadillos 26 \|	en_US
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.subject	Nine-banded armadillo	en_US
dc.subject	Genetics	en_US
dc.subject	Sex-linkage (Genetics)	en_US
dc.subject	Animals--Dispersal	en_US
dc.subject	Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge (Miss.)	en_US
dc.title	Spatial genetic structure of the nine-banded armadillo in western Mississippi	en_US
dc.type	Thesis	en_US
dc.contributor.department	Department Of Biology of The College Of Arts & Sciences	en_US
dc.description.advisor	Anderson, Corey D.
dc.description.committee	Loughry, William J.
dc.description.committee	McDonough, Colleen M.
dc.description.committee	LaPlant, James T.
dc.description.degree	M.S.	en_US
dc.description.major	Biology	en_US