Genetic diversity of scarlet macaws Ara macao in reintroduction studies for threatened populations in Costa Rica

During the last 40 years, the once abundant and widespread Ara macao popula tion in Costa Rica has been reduced to two major groups and one remnant gro up, which survive isolated from one another within three protected areas. T o maintain the genetic diversity of one of these populations located within the Carara Biological Reserve, which is threatened by frequent poaching, a n aviculture program was initiated for repatriation. This study is concerne d with monitoring the genetic diversity of confiscated birds to use for thi s reintroduction. Sixteen confiscated animals were analyzed by DNA fingerpr inting with oligonucleotide probes, which detect tandem repeats of the nucl eotide sequences CAC and GGAT in microsatellites. Birds were sexed by ampli fication of a nonrepetitive DNA sequence region from the female W chromosom e. Our data reveal a high genetic diversity among these individuals, with a verage band-sharing coefficients of 0.058 for the CAC repeat and 0.066 for GGAT. Only two pairs show a closer relationship. Our results suggest that t here is still considerable genetic diversity within Costa Rican scarlet mac aw populations. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.