Genetic Identification of Western and Yosemite Toads and Intergrades

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Yosemite toad (Anaxyrus canorus) populations have declined substantially in recent decades, though the reasons for declines are unclear; disease (chytridiomycosis), contaminants (pesticide drift), and grazing have been implicated as potential causes. The more common, conspecific western toad (Anaxyrus boreas) generally inhabits lower elevation habitats, however, overlaps with A. canorus in many localities. Given the difficulty in identifying larval, juvenile, and sometimes even adult individuals to species in the field, simple molecular genetic assay for species identification would aid in identification. We propose a RADseq next-generation sequencing approach to discover thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms that can be used to first build a clear set of phylogenetic relationships among individuals sampled from throughout a representative geographic sample of both species. The same data set may then be mined for species-diagnostic markers that form a reliable and rapid means of identifying species. Such markers could be employed in studies such as species delimitation, interspecific hybridization, parentage/relatedness, genetic diversity, and variety of other ecological questions.