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Evolutionary, molecular and comparative zoology
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 57(1)

Use of genetic methods to establish male-biased dispersal in a cryptic mammal, the swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor)

Justyna Zofia Paplinska A E , Mark D. B. Eldridge B , Desmond W. Cooper C , Peter D. M. Temple-Smith A D and Marilyn B. Renfree A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Zoology, The University of Melbourne, Vic. 3010, Australia.

B Evolutionary Biology, Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia.

C School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

D Monash Institute of Medical Research, Monash Medical Centre, 246 Clayton Road, Clayton, Vic. 3168, Australia.

E Corresponding author. Email: jzpapl@unimelb.edu.au

Australian Journal of Zoology 57(1) 65-72 https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO09014
Submitted: 10 February 2009  Accepted: 11 May 2009   Published: 29 May 2009

Abstract

Mammalian dispersal tends to be male-biased although female-biased dispersal has also been reported in a range of taxa. Most of our knowledge on mammalian sex-biased dispersal is based on studies of eutherians and less work has been done on the direction and causes of sex-biased dispersal in marsupials. This study investigated dispersal of swamp wallabies between two habitat patches in South Gippsland, Victoria, using genetic methods. A Bayesian clustering test showed a high level of genetic exchange between the two habitat patches despite their separation by 10–17 km of cleared land, a creek and a highway. Females in the overall sample were more closely related to each other than males were to each other and females within habitat patches were more closely related than females between habitat patches whereas the converse was true for males. Bayesian inference showed that more males were migrating from the east to the west habitat patch whereas the converse was true for females and the male migration rate was higher than the female migration rate. The differential migration rate did not cause a significant difference in relatedness between patches in females but it did in males. These relatedness and migration patterns indicate that dispersal in the swamp wallaby is male-biased.

Additional keywords: macropod, sex-biased dispersal.


Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Holsworth Wildlife Research Fund and by a Melbourne University Research Scholarship to JZP. We thank Steve Wentworth, Mark Grumley and Mark Felmingham of Grand Ridge Plantations for supplying tissue samples at Maryvale. Thanks also go to staff at Healesville Sanctuary, especially David Middleton and Paul Slinger, for help and advice. Warm thanks to Andrew Paplinski and Geoff Shaw for mathematical advice and Karen Firestone for comments on the manuscript. Special thanks also to all field volunteers, especially Graeme Finlayson, Scott McCoombe and Richard Moyle. Many thanks to Sue Osborn, Scott Brownlees and Kerry Martin for all help with animal husbandry.


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