microsatellites

Cortaderia selloana (pampas grass) and C. jubata (purple pampas grass) are both invasive in New Zealand. Cortaderia selloana is found throughout most of the country, whereas C. jubata is restricted to the North Island and the northern South Island. We examine the genetic variation present in each of the species, and compare this to the findings of an earlier study that analysed the variation in invasive C. jubata plants from New Zealand.

Genetic variation in two translocated populations of North Island saddleback (Philesturnus rufusater) on Kapiti Island and at Zealandia was investigated using five microsatellite loci and compared with the source populations in the Hauraki Gulf. Although the absolute number of alleles in the two populations was low (3 alleles per locus), both populations carried all the alleles found in their immediate source populations, but lacked one rare allele found in only one individual from the original remnant population on Hen Island.