Genetic diversity in pre and post bottleneck populations of North American Bison bison: Ancient DNA analysis of archaeological bison skeletal remains

This dissertation is a study of diversity in the mitochondrial DNA control region in bison herds that precede and follow the severe population bottleneck of the late 1800s. Study populations include the skeletal remains of the Glenrock site in Wyoming (48CO304) dated to 1670 AD and the Hudson-Meng site (25SX115) in Nebraska dated to 10,000 BP as well as the extant herds of the National Bison Range in Montana, Fort Niobrara in Nebraska and Sully's Hill in North Dakota. Genetic sequences from two Old World bison bones of 12,000 and 50,000 years BP are included. A protocol is presented for the extraction of ancient DNA using the Bio 101 Ancient DNA Extraction Kit.; Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis shows that differences in herd histories, founding populations sizes and herd management practices among extant bison herds have resulted in a disparity in control region diversity among populations. The National Bison Range herd exhibits the highest level of diversity (0.6621) followed by the Sully's Hill herd (0.3183) and lastly, Fort Niobrara (0). Bovine mtDNA was found to be present in the National Bison Range herd at a frequency of 0.03.; Control region sequence data were used to compare diversity between the Glenrock archaeological site population and the herd at the National Bison Range. Despite the fact that bison passed through a severe population bottleneck during the late 1800s, diversity in the National Bison Range herd (0.8412) is not statistically different from that of the Glenrock herd (0.9507). Mismatch pair distribution analysis, however, does indicate the occurrence of a population bottleneck prior to the establishment of the National Bison Range herd while the same analysis for the Glenrock population indicates a population in expansion.; Only 25% of the 20 bones included from the Hudson-Meng site relinquished useable genetic sequence. DNA extraction from the humerus and calcaneum were most successful. A difference in the preservation of DNA among excavation blocks was noted. The most common genetic sequence observed in the Hudson-Meng population was also the sequence most frequently observed in both the Glenrock and National Bison Range herds.