Data from: Sex-linked and autosomal microsatellites provide new insights into island populations of the tammar wallaby

The emerging availability of microsatellite markers from mammalian sex
chromosomes provides opportunities to investigate both male- and
female-mediated gene flow in wild populations, identifying patterns not
apparent from the analysis of autosomal markers alone. Tammar wallabies
(Macropus eugenii), once spread over the southern mainland, have been
isolated on several islands off the Western Australian and South
Australian coastlines for between 10 000 and 13 000 years. Here, we
combine analyses of autosomal, Y-linked and X-linked microsatellite loci
to investigate genetic variation in populations of this species on two
islands (Kangaroo Island, South Australia and Garden Island, Western
Australia). All measures of diversity were higher for the larger Kangaroo
Island population, in which genetic variation was lowest at Y-linked
markers and highest at autosomal markers (θ=3.291, 1.208 and 0.627 for
autosomal, X-linked and Y-linked data, respectively). Greater relatedness
among females than males provides evidence for male-biased dispersal in
this population, while sex-linked markers identified genetic lineages not
apparent from autosomal data alone. Overall genetic diversity in the
Garden Island population was low, especially on the Y chromosome where
most males shared a common haplotype, and we observed high levels of
inbreeding and relatedness among individuals. Our findings highlight the
utility of this approach for management actions, such as the selection of
animals for translocation or captive breeding, and the ecological insights
that may be gained by combining analyses of microsatellite markers on sex
chromosomes with those derived from autosomes.