Genetic signatures of a demographic collapse in a large‐bodied forest dwelling primate (Mandrillus leucophaeus)

Ecology and Evolution

Nelson Ting⁸  Christos Astaras¹  Gail Hearn⁷  Shaya Honarvar⁷  Joel Corush⁸  Andrew S. Burrell²  Naomi Phillips³  Bethan J. Morgan⁴  Elizabeth L. Gadsby⁶  Ryan Raaum⁵ 

[1] Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, University of Oxford, Abingdon Road, Tubney, Oxfordshire, OX13 5QL, United Kingdom.;Department of Anthropology, New York University, 25 Waverly Place, New York, New York 10003.;Department of Biology, Arcadia University, 450 South Easton Road, Glenside, Pennsylvania 19038-3295.;San Diego Zoo Global Institute for Conservation Research, 15600 San Pasqual Valley Road, Escondido, California 92027.;Department of Anthropology, Lehman College and City University of New York Graduate Center, 250 Bedford Park Blvd., West Bronx, New York 10468.;Pandrillus, H.E.P.O., Box 826, Calabar, Nigeria.;Department of Biology and Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program, Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104.;Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 308 Condon Hall, Eugene, Oregon 97403.

关键词: Bayesian Skyline Plot;    bottleneck;    climate change;    Cross‐Sanaga‐Bioko forests;    drill;    Mandrillus;   

DOI  :  10.1002/ece3.98

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

It is difficult to predict how current climate change will affect wildlife species adapted to a tropical rainforest environment. Understanding how population dynamics fluctuated in such species throughout periods of past climatic change can provide insight into this issue. The drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus) is a large-bodied rainforest adapted mammal found in West Central Africa. In the middle of this endangered monkey's geographic range is Lake Barombi Mbo, which has a well-documented palynological record of environmental change that dates to the Late Pleistocene. We used a Bayesian coalescent-based framework to analyze 2,076 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA across wild drill populations to infer past changes in female effective population size since the Late Pleistocene. Our results suggest that the drill underwent a nearly 15-fold demographic collapse in female effective population size that was most prominent during the Mid Holocene (approximately 3-5 Ka). This time period coincides with a period of increased dryness and seasonality across Africa and a dramatic reduction in forest coverage at Lake Barombi Mbo. We believe that these changes in climate and forest coverage were the driving forces behind the drill population decline. Furthermore, the warm temperatures and increased aridity of the Mid Holocene are potentially analogous to current and future conditions faced by many tropical rainforest communities. In order to prevent future declines in population size in rainforest-adapted species such as the drill, large tracts of forest should be protected to both preserve habitat and prevent forest loss through aridification.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC   
© 2011 The Authors. MicrobiologyOpen published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.