Abstract
International socioeconomic relationships form the background that
underlies the history of invasive species. Species with economic value,
such as the North American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeianus ),
are more likely to become internationally distributed and to be
subsequently introduced to non-native areas and, consequently, become
more difficult to control. Using population genetics methods,
we investigated the invasion
pathways, the connectivity among clusters in different countries and the
native population of origin of globally introduced bullfrog populations.
Throughout the analysis of seven microsatellite nuclear loci, one
fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome b locus, and historical
information, four main lineages
were identified and analyzed along with previous findings. This species’
capability to colonize several countries from few starting lineages
highlights the necessity to control new propagule pressure to ensure
successful management programs, as high inbreeding and bottleneck effect
seem not to diminish the invasive success of this species. There is a
consensus between markers that most areas of South America belong to the
same genetic population while populations in Asia have a more complex
history of introduction.