Maned wolves retain moderate levels of genetic diversity and gene flow despite drastic habitat fragmentation

 

Autor(es):
Mannise, Natalia ; Cosse, Mariana ; González, Susana ; Emmons, Louise H. ; Barbanti Duarte, José Mauricio ; Beccaceci, Marcelo D. ; Maldonado, Jesús E.
Tipo:
Artículo
Versión:
Publicado
Financiadores:
Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovación
Resumen:

The maned wolf Chrysocyon brachyurus is the largest South American canid and categorized as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. The major threat to conservation efforts is the drastic reduction of suitable habitat for the species. A large portion of its range has been converted into farm and ranch lands as well as urban areas. To better understand the impact that these anthropogenic activities are having over the remaining populations across their current distribution range, we evaluated patterns of genetic variability and differentiation between them. We also compared these results with those obtained from captive maned wolves in order to make proper ex situ recommendations. We cross-amplified 12 microsatellite loci in maned wolf samples collected throughout their range (from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia) and from captive stocks (from captive breeding centers and zoos in Brazil, Argentina and the USA). We found that wild populations retain moderate levels of genetic variability compared with other microsatellite studies on wild canids, and our structure analysis revealed 2 genetic clusters in wild samples, one of which included samples exclusively from Bolivia. This cluster could represent a different management unit with conservation priority. The captive stock population showed higher levels of genetic variability, with the ones from Brazil being the most genetically diverse stock. The USA stock showed strong genetic differences with all other groups. This is the first study to examine the patterns of genetic diversity of both wild and captive populations of maned wolves. These results should be incorporated into further population viability assessments and in the Maned Wolf Species Survival Plan.

Año:
2017
Idioma:
Inglés
Temas:
Canids
Population genetics
Microsatellite loci
Noninvasive genetic analysis
Ciencias Naturales y Exactas
Ciencias Biológicas
Conservación de la Biodiversidad
Genética y Herencia
Institución:
Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable
Repositorio:
REDI
Enlace(s):
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12381/184
http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/esr00859
Nivel de acceso:
Acceso abierto
Licencia:
Reconocimiento-NoComercial-SinObraDerivada. (CC BY-NC-ND)