The genetic population structure of wild western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) living in continuous rain forest.
Am J Primatol
; 76(9): 868-78, 2014 Sep.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-24700547
ABSTRACT
To understand the evolutionary histories and conservation potential of wild animal species it is useful to assess whether taxa are genetically structured into different populations and identify the underlying factors responsible for any clustering. Landscape features such as rivers may influence genetic population structure, and analysis of structure by sex can further reveal effects of sex-specific dispersal. Using microsatellite genotypes obtained from noninvasively collected fecal samples we investigated the population structure of 261 western lowland gorillas (WLGs) (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) from seven locations spanning an approximately 37,000 km(2) region of mainly continuous rain forest within Central African Republic (CAR), Republic of Congo and Cameroon. We found our sample to consist of two or three significantly differentiated clusters. The boundaries of the clusters coincided with courses of major rivers. Moreover, geographic distance detoured around rivers better-explained variation in genetic distance than straight line distance. Together these results suggest that major rivers in our study area play an important role in directing WLG gene flow. The number of clusters did not change when males and females were analyzed separately, indicating a lack of greater philopatry in WLG females than males at this scale.
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Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Variação Genética
/
Genética Populacional
/
Gorilla gorilla
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Animals
País/Região como assunto:
Africa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Am J Primatol
Ano de publicação:
2014
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Alemanha