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Genetic connectivity across marginal habitats: the elephants of the Namib Desert
Locally isolated populations in marginal habitats may be genetically distinctive and of heightened conservation concern. Elephants inhabiting the Namib Desert have been reported to show distinctive behavioral and phenotypic adaptations in that severely arid environment. The genetic distinctiveness o...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
2016
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5016642/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27648236 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2352 |
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author | Ishida, Yasuko Van Coeverden de Groot, Peter J. Leggett, Keith E. A. Putnam, Andrea S. Fox, Virginia E. Lai, Jesse Boag, Peter T. Georgiadis, Nicholas J. Roca, Alfred L. |
author_facet | Ishida, Yasuko Van Coeverden de Groot, Peter J. Leggett, Keith E. A. Putnam, Andrea S. Fox, Virginia E. Lai, Jesse Boag, Peter T. Georgiadis, Nicholas J. Roca, Alfred L. |
author_sort | Ishida, Yasuko |
collection | PubMed |
description | Locally isolated populations in marginal habitats may be genetically distinctive and of heightened conservation concern. Elephants inhabiting the Namib Desert have been reported to show distinctive behavioral and phenotypic adaptations in that severely arid environment. The genetic distinctiveness of Namibian desert elephants relative to other African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) populations has not been established. To investigate the genetic structure of elephants in Namibia, we determined the mitochondrial (mt) DNA control region sequences and genotyped 17 microsatellite loci in desert elephants (n = 8) from the Hoanib River catchment and the Hoarusib River catchment. We compared these to the genotypes of elephants (n = 77) from other localities in Namibia. The mtDNA haplotype sequences and frequencies among desert elephants were similar to those of elephants in Etosha National Park, the Huab River catchment, the Ugab River catchment, and central Kunene, although the geographically distant Caprivi Strip had different mtDNA haplotypes. Likewise, analysis of the microsatellite genotypes of desert‐dwelling elephants revealed that they were not genetically distinctive from Etosha elephants, and there was no evidence for isolation by distance across the Etosha region. These results, and a review of the historical record, suggest that a high learning capacity and long‐distance migrations allowed Namibian elephants to regularly shift their ranges to survive in the face of high variability in climate and in hunting pressure. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5016642 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2016 |
publisher | John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-50166422016-09-19 Genetic connectivity across marginal habitats: the elephants of the Namib Desert Ishida, Yasuko Van Coeverden de Groot, Peter J. Leggett, Keith E. A. Putnam, Andrea S. Fox, Virginia E. Lai, Jesse Boag, Peter T. Georgiadis, Nicholas J. Roca, Alfred L. Ecol Evol Original Research Locally isolated populations in marginal habitats may be genetically distinctive and of heightened conservation concern. Elephants inhabiting the Namib Desert have been reported to show distinctive behavioral and phenotypic adaptations in that severely arid environment. The genetic distinctiveness of Namibian desert elephants relative to other African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) populations has not been established. To investigate the genetic structure of elephants in Namibia, we determined the mitochondrial (mt) DNA control region sequences and genotyped 17 microsatellite loci in desert elephants (n = 8) from the Hoanib River catchment and the Hoarusib River catchment. We compared these to the genotypes of elephants (n = 77) from other localities in Namibia. The mtDNA haplotype sequences and frequencies among desert elephants were similar to those of elephants in Etosha National Park, the Huab River catchment, the Ugab River catchment, and central Kunene, although the geographically distant Caprivi Strip had different mtDNA haplotypes. Likewise, analysis of the microsatellite genotypes of desert‐dwelling elephants revealed that they were not genetically distinctive from Etosha elephants, and there was no evidence for isolation by distance across the Etosha region. These results, and a review of the historical record, suggest that a high learning capacity and long‐distance migrations allowed Namibian elephants to regularly shift their ranges to survive in the face of high variability in climate and in hunting pressure. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016-08-03 /pmc/articles/PMC5016642/ /pubmed/27648236 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2352 Text en © 2016 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Original Research Ishida, Yasuko Van Coeverden de Groot, Peter J. Leggett, Keith E. A. Putnam, Andrea S. Fox, Virginia E. Lai, Jesse Boag, Peter T. Georgiadis, Nicholas J. Roca, Alfred L. Genetic connectivity across marginal habitats: the elephants of the Namib Desert |
title | Genetic connectivity across marginal habitats: the elephants of the Namib Desert |
title_full | Genetic connectivity across marginal habitats: the elephants of the Namib Desert |
title_fullStr | Genetic connectivity across marginal habitats: the elephants of the Namib Desert |
title_full_unstemmed | Genetic connectivity across marginal habitats: the elephants of the Namib Desert |
title_short | Genetic connectivity across marginal habitats: the elephants of the Namib Desert |
title_sort | genetic connectivity across marginal habitats: the elephants of the namib desert |
topic | Original Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5016642/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27648236 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2352 |
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