West Indian Manatee Population Genetics

USGS is working with partners to understand how the federally protected Florida manatee population changes over time and responds to threats.

Nuclear microsatellite markers have been developed and implemented on ~2,000 West Indian manatees. These markers provide individual genetic fingerprints for mark-recapture studies, population structure information for the conservation of unique or isolated populations, and pedigree and relatedness information for addressing inbreeding and breeding structure patterns.