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THE GENETIC DIVERSITY OF HOUSE WRENS AND GRAY CATBIRDS

Abstract

The population of Gwinnett County has grown from 72,000 in 1970 to over 1 million in 2025. Increased population has led to habitat destruction as land is used to build homes, schools, and commercial properties. Greenspaces have been conserved through the Gwinnett County Parks and Recreation Department. Natural habitats conserved at these parks varies from 50-95% of the landscape. In addition, the campus of Georgia Gwinnett College has been expanding over the last twenty years. As birds can be excellent indicator species of environmental health, the Georgia Gwinnett College Bird Lab has been studying birds captured from locations in Gwinnett County for the past 10 years. Feather samples have been taken from select species to compare genetic diversity between locations with varying degrees of development. Here we compare the genetic diversity of gray catbirds and house wrens captured at three different locations within Gwinnett County, specifically at Georgia Gwinnett College and two Gwinnett county parks: Harbins Park and Collins Hill Park. We hypothesized that the house wren would have the highest nucleotide diversity and haplotype diversity at the Georgia Gwinnett College location due to their tendency of cavity nesting and adaptability, while the gray catbirds would have the highest nucleotide diversity and haplotype diversity at Harbins Park due to their migratory tendencies and habitat preferences.We used the Qiagen Blood and Tissue Kit for DNA isolation, PCR of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) and Sanger Sequencing. The results were then analyzed using the programs MEGA, DNAsp and Pop Art. Our results indicate that haplotype diversity was highest at the location with the highest percentage of natural landscapes for both species. While nucleotide diversity was highest at the most natural location for House Wrens, it was the second highest at the most natural location for Gray Catbirds. Overall, our results suggest that locations with higher percentages of natural habitats support increased genetic diversity.

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