ESTABLISHING PATERNITY IN MATING HERDS OF THE FLORIDA MANATEE (TRICHECHUS MANATUS LATIROSTRIS)

Abstract

The study of parentage in natural populations can have important implications for the evolution and behavioral ecology of a species. The purpose of this project is to use skin samples previously collected from mating herds of the federally endangered Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) to establish a genetic identity for individuals and to determine paternity of calves from known females. This genetic information could also be used to determine behavior patterns, such as whether a particular male is successful in siring calves in multiple mating herds. For this study, nuclear DNA was extracted from manatee skin samples for 13 mother-calf pairs and 35 males. The DNA was amplified at nine different microsatellite regions using PCR with fluorescent tagged primers. Fragment length analysis of the PCR products revealed that five calves were potentially matched with three different males at three or more loci, with one male potentially matching three different calves.