Passer hispaniolensis subpopulations in Turkey: allozyme variations and brief ecobiological notes

Authors: FULYA SAYGILI, NURİ YİĞİT

Abstract: In this study, Spanish Sparrows were recorded in numerous locations and specimens were collected from Samsun, Çorum, and Denizli provinces in Turkey. The breeding subpopulations preferred various nesting sites, including wooded areas and White Stork nests. These sparrows were primarily observed in flocks of variable size and were rarely solitary. The largest flock recorded was found in juniper and pine woods in Denizli. We collected data on 23 allozyme loci to compare the genetic variation among the 3 Spanish Sparrow subpopulations. The low F_{ST} (0.1363) and high Nm (1.5842) values calculated from these data indicated that gene flow among the 3 subpopulations was high and that these subpopulations did not show substantial genetic isolation. The genetic distance (D) between Çorum and Denizli was particularly low (0.001), and these subpopulations showed the highest level of genetic similarity found in the study. Conversely, a high genetic distance (0.028) was found between Denizli and Samsun. The genetic structure of these subpopulations also demonstrated a low level of heterozygosity in the total population.

Keywords: Allozyme, Passer hispaniolensis, Spanish Sparrow, Turkey

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