The Meso-American slider turtle (Trachemys venusta) is a freshwater turtle that is widely distributed from Mexico to Colombia. Due to the overexploitation of populations of this species in Mexico, it has been placed within the “subject to special protection” category formulated by the Official Mexican Standard NOM-059-ECOL-2010. In the state of Tabasco, Mexico, Management Units for the Conservation of Wildlife (UMA) were created to reduce the impact of overexploitation of freshwater turtles bred in captivity. However, no genetic management plan was considered. The present study was carried out in an UMA in the state of Tabasco. We obtained the level of genetic diversity of the founder individuals of the UMA in order to develop a management plan which will optimize reproduction in the UMA. Genetic diversity was compared between captive (n = 86) and wild (n = 45) individuals using 14 microsatellite molecular markers. The genetic diversity parameter determined in this study was slightly higher for captive than for wild population (He = 0.606 and He = 0.594 respectively), reflecting the mix of genetic sources in captive group (founding individuals from different localities) and demonstrating that the captive population contains a diverse subset of alleles from representative populations. The analysis of genetic structure revealed a relationship between captive and wild populations, indicating the influence of the two principal river basins in this region on the populations structure of freshwater turtles. Finally, according to the results obtained from the relationship analysis, we recommend the use of 19 females and 13 males to constitute the appropriate breeding group, generating a potential of 247 dyads with no relationship. However, in order to improve breeding program and the genetic diversity of captive population, we suggest to introduce wild-caught individuals. These results are the first regarding genetic management in a Mexican UMA and demonstrate the importance of molecular approaches in the management and conservation of captive species.

中文翻译：

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墨西哥南部 Trachemys venusta venusta 的保护和管理：遗传方法

中美洲滑龟（Trachemys venusta）是一种淡水龟，广泛分布于从墨西哥到哥伦比亚。由于墨西哥对该物种种群的过度开发，它已被置于墨西哥官方标准 NOM-059-ECOL-2010 制定的“受特殊保护”类别中。在墨西哥塔巴斯科州，设立了野生动物保护管理单位 (UMA)，以减少过度捕捞人工饲养的淡水龟的影响。然而，没有考虑遗传管理计划。本研究是在塔巴斯科州的一个 UMA 中进行的。我们获得了 UMA 创始人个体的遗传多样性水平，以制定优化 UMA 繁殖的管理计划。使用 14 个微卫星分子标记比较圈养 (n = 86) 和野生 (n = 45) 个体之间的遗传多样性。本研究确定的圈养种群的遗传多样性参数略高于野生种群（分别为 He = 0.606 和 He = 0.594），反映了圈养群体（来自不同地区的创始个体）的遗传来源混合，并证明圈养种群包含来自代表性人群的不同等位基因子集。遗传结构分析揭示了圈养种群和野生种群之间的关系，表明该地区两个主要流域对淡水龟种群结构的影响。最后，根据关系分析得到的结果，我们建议使用 19 只雌性和 13 只雄性来构成适当的繁殖组，从而产生 247 对没有关系的潜在配对。但是，为了改进育种计划和圈养种群的遗传多样性，我们建议引入野生捕捞个体。这些结果是关于墨西哥 UMA 遗传管理的第一个结果，并证明了分子方法在圈养物种管理和保护中的重要性。