Data from: Potential drivers and implications of a balanced breeding sex ratio in a small population of an imperiled species with environmental sex determination
Data files
Aug 06, 2024 version files 116.34 KB
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Colony_Output.csv
14.23 KB
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README.md
2.25 KB
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SGI_loggerhead_genos_2022.csv
99.86 KB
Abstract
Small populations of imperiled species are susceptible to the negative consequences of skewed sex ratios. In imperiled species with environmental sex determination such as sea turtles, examining sex ratios across a range of environments and population abundance levels can provide insight into factors that influence population resilience, which can then be the foci of management plans for these species. Breeding sex ratios (the ratio of actively breeding males to females during a reproductive season; BSRs) extrapolated from genetic parentage analyses are a common approach for enumerating sex ratios in sea turtles. Such analyses also allow for the characterization of multiple paternity within sea turtle clutches, which should reflect BSRs and breeding behaviors. We characterized the first BSR for a breeding assemblage of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) belonging to the temperate, low-abundance Northern Gulf of Mexico Recovery Unit using genotypes of 16 microsatellite loci from nesting females and hatchlings. Unlike prior studies at both more-tropical and more-temperate, and higher-abundance, Recovery Units in this region, we found a balanced BSR of 1.3:1 males: female and a low incidence (~17%) of multiple paternity. This suggests that there are relatively few males breeding at this assemblage and within this Recovery Unit. Beaches in this region are expected to produce substantial numbers of male hatchlings based on sand temperature data. The relative dearth of mature males may then be due to hydrologic disturbances that disproportionately affect the fitness and survival of male hatchlings, or due to demographic stochasticity. More work is needed to study the factors that might influence male hatchling production and fitness in this region, particularly as climate change is predicted to lead to feminization in global sea turtle populations. Our work demonstrates the broad utility of characterizing BSRs and other sex ratios across a range of populations in imperiled, environmentally sensitive species.
README: Potential drivers and implications of a balanced breeding sex ratio in a small population of an imperiled species with environmental sex determination
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.cfxpnvxfx
These data include: microsatellite genotypes across 16 loci for hatchling and female loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) sampled on St. George Island, Florida (SGI_loggerhead_genos_2022.csv); the output of COLONY 2.0 run using these microsatellite data (Colony_Output.csv); and an R markdown script used to analyze and visualize the COLONY output (SGI_BSR_Analyses.Rmd).
Description of the data and file structure
Microsatellite genotype file (SGI_loggerhead_genos_2022.csv) includes one column for individual ID (individual_id), one column to identify whether the individual is a hatchling or a female (lifestage), and 32 columns for microsatellite alleles (two columns for each locus). Each locus (column header) is followed by "A" or "B" to distinguish the two alleles. Alleles are presented as basepair counts. "*" indicates loci/alleles that did not amplify or could not be called with confidence.
COLONY output file (Colony_Output.csv) includes one column with the COLONY cluster index (ClusterIndex; an aid to identifying family groups), one column with the probability of each parentage assignments (Probability), and three columns with hatchling (Offspring), inferred paternal (Father), and inferred maternal (Mother) ID's. "*" before the inferred paternal ID indicates unsampled fathers inferred by COLONY (in this case, all fathers). "#" before the inferred maternal ID indicates unsampled mothers inferred by COLONY.
R markdown script (SGI_BSR_Analyses.Rmd) includes all resources (package loading, R scripts) to import and analyze COLONY outputs and to generate figures used in the publication.
Sharing/Access information
Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data:
Code/Software
R markdown script (SGI_BSR_Analyses.Rmd) can be open, edited, and run in Rstudio.