The role of management decisions in subspecies hybridization across wild turkey occupied range

The expanded geographic range and recovery of wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) would not have been possible without management actions that included introducing and translocating individuals across North America. However, range-wide genetic effects of management actions remain unknown despite the potential economic effect as hunters seek out clearly identifiable subspecies. We used DNA extracted from hunter-collected feathers from 29 states and Ontario, Canada, to investigate genetic variation among wild turkey populations in their historic and introduced ranges. We compiled state-level translocation and introduction data to investigate how different management actions were associated with the amount of admixture among subspecies for a subset of states. We found no difference in the level of admixture in contemporary populations of the wild turkey between their historic range and introduced range. However, the average admixture detected was affected by different restoration actions, including the number of subspecies introduced. Additionally, the number of unique states that wild turkeys were sourced from correlated with the amount of admixture detected but relocating those wild turkeys to many unique counties did not. Together, our results indicate that where wild turkeys were sourced from had a greater effect on admixture than where those individuals were released. Hybridization among subspecies of wild turkey, based on admixture levels, appears to be widespread and influenced by historical management actions that has contributed to the current genetic composition of local wild turkey populations.