Puerto Rico's small and
secluded manatee population is extra vulnerable to setbacks because its genetic
diversity is low, researchers warn.
Conservationists had hoped
that manatees from Florida were helping to offset the marine mammal's isolation
problem in Puerto Rico through migration and mating, but a lack of diversity
suggests this is not the case.
"Puerto Rico's Antillean
manatees have low overall numbers and low genetic diversity, both of which
present risks for the population's long-term survival," Margaret Hunter, a
geneticist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and lead author of the study,
said in a statement.
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