Insights into the Genetic Origins of White-tailed Deer on the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay

Verity L. Mathis; Marina S. Ascunce; Karla G. Logan-López; Randy W. DeYoung; Rodney L. Honeycutt; Karen V. Olson; Gebreyes Kassu; Nova J. Silvy; David L. Reed

Insights into the Genetic Origins of White-tailed Deer on the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay

Verity L. Mathis^1,*, Marina S. Ascunce^1,2, Karla G. Logan-López³, Randy W. DeYoung³,Rodney L. Honeycutt⁴, Karen V. Olsong^1,5, Gebreyes Kassu¹, Nova J. Silvy⁶, and David L. Reed¹

¹Florida Museum of Natural History, 1659 Museum Road, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. ²Current affiliation - Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. ³Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, 700 University Boulevard, Texas A&M University–Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363, USA. ⁴Natural Science Division, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA 90263, USA. ⁵Current affiliation - Biodiversity Institute and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Dyche Hall, 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA. ⁶Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Science, 2258 TAMU, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA. *Corresponding author.

Caribbean Naturalist, No. 45 (2017)

Abstract
The origin of Odocoileus virginianus (White-tailed Deer) on the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB) is uncertain. Published reports suggest that White-tailed Deer were introduced into Cuba in the 1850s from North America, with unpublished reports that deer were brought from the United States to NSGB in the early–mid-20th century for hunting. We investigated the genetic origin of deer on NSGB by comparing patterns of variation at 2 regions of the mitochondrial genome and for 8 nuclear microsatellite loci. We compared populations at NSGB to samples from North, Central, and South America. These data suggest that deer found within NSGB did not originate from either the United States or Mexico, but have closer affinities with northern South America. NSGB deer may have arrived from South America naturally via the Lesser Antilles or could have been introduced directly by humans. Future inclusion of data from populations on other Caribbean islands and free-ranging deer from Cuba would provide insight into the geographic origin and modes of colonization of NSGB deer and aid in their management.

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