Mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b diversity and phylogeny of the Eurasian coot (Fulica atra; Linnaeus, 1758) (Gruiformes: Rallidae)

The Eurasian coot (Fulica atra; Linnaeus, 1758) is a widely distributed waterbird consisting of four subspecies and found throughout northern Eurasia to the western Sahara, Australia, and New Zeeland that recently has experienced regional population declines. Population declines may impact genetic diversity and little information is available on genetic diversity in coots. We extracted genomic DNA from muscle tissues of coots collected from Fereidoonkenar International Wetland (FIW; n = 7) and Gorgan Bay (GB; n = 5) in Iran and sequenced 513-bp of mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b marker and published sequences from Genbank. Localities in Iran were characterized by two haplotypes high haplotype and low nucleotide diversities. The Fst value (0.177) indicated a high level of genetic differentiation between FIW and GB. The phylogenetic analysis that included published sequences, supported groupings that likely correspond to migration flyways of coots. Moreover, specimens from Australia were not associated with coots from other localities in our sample. Our results showed that coots number of cyt b haplotypes was low for the overall sample but have retained substantial levels of genetic diversity in our study sites.