Low support for separate species within the redpoll complex (Carduelis flammea-hornemanni-cabaret) from analyses of mtDNA and microsatellite markers.

The redpoll complex, consisting of three currently recognized species (Carduelis flammea, C. hornemanni and C. cabaret), is polytypic in biometry, morphology, physiology and behaviour.

Improved DNA fragment length estimation in capillary electrophoresis.

In CE the charged DNA strands are fractionated according to fragment lengths as they migrate through the capillary, since shorter DNA fragments pass through the sieving matrix faster. Multiplexed internal size standards are used to estimate the size of unknown DNA fragments. In the literature there are statements about migration abnormalities for the 250 and 340 bp fragments in the GeneScan-500 (GS500) internal size standards.

Assignment of sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) to spawning sites using DNA markers.

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to assign individual adult sockeye salmon to their spawning sites using a genotype assignment test. Six primers were selected for use by screening bulked DNA samples for markers missing in fish from one or more of 5 sites in British Columbia or Alaska. Of 73 markers scored, 54 showed variation between or within sites among the sampled fish.

Geographical variation and population structure in the White-rumped Sandpiper Calidris fuscicollis as shown by morphology, mitochondrial DNA and carbon isotope ratios.

We studied the population structure of a high arctic breeding wader bird species, the White-rumped Sandpiper Calidris fuscicollis. Breeding adults, chicks and juveniles were sampled at seven localities throughout the species' breeding range in arctic Canada in 1999. The mitochondrial control region was analysed by DNA sequencing, feathers were analysed for carbon isotope ratios (C/C) by isotope ratio mass spectrometry, and morphological measurements were analysed using principal component analyses, taking the effect of sex into account (identified by molecular genetic methods).