Reintroduction of guans of the genus Penelope (Cracidae, Aves) in reforested areas in Brazil: assessment by DNA fingerprinting Original Research Article

We used DNA fingerprinting in order to assess ‘a posterioriʹ the outcome of a captive breeding and reintroduction program of guans Penelope obscura bronzina and P. superciliaris jacupemba. The reintroductions started after the reforestation of part of the area that was damaged during the construction of a hydroelectric power dam in São Paulo, Brazil, in a region belonging to the Atlantic Forest. Our results showed that the free-living populations that became established in the reforested areas were related to the birds of the captive breeding and reintroduction programs. The segregation pattern of paternal and maternal DNA fragments of a captive family show that at least nine independent loci were detected by each of the human minisatellite multilocus probes used in the present work (33.6 and 33.15). Even though we detected a reduction in the genetic variability of these free-living populations compared to that of the captive stocks as a consequence of their small number of founders, the birds of both species have been breeding adequately in the reforested areas.