The predictability of genetic structure from social structure and differential mating success was tested in wild baboons. Baboon populations are subdivided into cohesive social groups that include multiple adults of both sexes. As in many mammals, males are the dispersing sex. Social structure and behavior successfully predicted molecular genetic measures of relatedness and variance in reproductive success. In the first quantitative test of the priority-of-access model among wild primates, the reproductive priority of dominant males was confirmed by molecular genetic analysis. However, the resultant high short-term variance in reproductive success did not translate into equally high long-term variance because male dominance status was unstable. An important consequence of high but unstable short-term variance is that age cohorts will tend to be paternal sibships and social groups will be genetically substructured by age.In this study, we combined molecular genetic data with long-term behavioral and demographic data to examine several aspects of behavior-genetic relationships that are central to the evolution of primate social systems. The first of these is the priority-of-access model, which predicts that dominance status among adult males determines access to estrous females (1) and that variability in the number of offspring fathered by males will, therefore, directly reflect both the males' dominance status and the number of simultaneously estrus females (2). Second, we investigated the widespread assumption that short-term differences in mating success or paternity success are stable and, therefore, predictive of lifetime differences in reproductive success (for review, see refs. 3 and 4). Third, we examined the hypothesis that a species' dispersal system and social structure produce predictable population substructure within groups (5, 6). For example, adult males within groups of baboons and many other cercopithecine primates are predicted to be less closely related than are adult females, and relatedness should be greater within than between matrilines.The study was conducted on a group of individually known wild savannah baboons, Papio cynocephalus, in Amboseli, Kenya (7). Like most cercopithecine primates and many other mammals (5,(8)(9)(10)(11)

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Following the well documented extinctions almost 100 years of biological research. It now seems that the remnant populations of Samoana attenuata discovered of many species of endemic tree snail (family Partulidae) throughout French Polynesia, field surveys were under-only 5 years ago are the only species of partulid still surviving beyond Tahiti on the Society Island group. The taken on four islands in the Society archipelago to provide up to date information for the international mixed species populations in the Te Pari area of Tahiti-Iti are still extant, but the predatory snail Euglandina rosea conservation programme for this group of invertebrates. These surveys have confirmed the loss of all species of has now spread to the last valley on the Peninsula that did not have previous evidence of predator activity. On Partula in the wild on the Society Islands other than Tahiti. Thirty-three species have been lost from Raiatea, Tahiti-Nui populations of partulid, without the predator, were found near the crest of Mount Tahiti above Orofero thereby eliminating one of the most outstanding examples of island evolutionary radiation. On Huahine Valley. Partulidae are clearly a highly threatened family of invertebrates, and in need of the most intense the disappearance of P. varia and P. rosea, used for making lei (shell jewellery), had an economic and social conservation focus. eCect on the local community: many of the women of the villages lost their livelihoods, and the artisan's associ-Keywords Biological control, extinctions, Mollusca, Partula, Partulidae, Polynesia, snails, Society Islands. ation folded. The seven species of Partula on Moorea were extinct in the wild by the mid 1980s, terminating continuing spread of the predator. Fifteen of the original

Oceanic islands frequently support endemic faunal radiations that are highly vulnerable to introduced predators [1]. This vulnerability is epitomized by the rapid extinction in the wild of all but five of 61 described Society Islands partulid tree snails [2], following the deliberate introduction of an alien biological control agent: the carnivorous snail Euglandina rosea[3]. Tahiti's tree snail populations have been almost completely extirpated and three of the island's eight endemic Partula species are officially extinct, a fourth persisting only in captivity [2]. We report a molecular phylogenetic estimate of Tahitian Partula mitochondrial lineage survival calibrated with a 1970 reference museum collection that pre-dates the predator's 1974 introduction to the island [4]. Although severe winnowing of lineage diversity has occurred, none of the five primary Tahitian Partula clades present in the museum samples is extinct. Targeted conservation measures, especially of montane refuge populations, may yet preserve a representative sub-sample of Tahiti's endemic tree snail genetic diversity in the wild.

BackgroundThe mass extirpation of the island of Moorea's endemic partulid tree snail fauna, following the deliberate introduction of the alien predator Euglandina rosea, represents one of the highest profile conservation crises of the past thirty years. All of the island's partulids were thought to be extirpated by 1987, with five species persisting in zoos, but intensive field surveys have recently detected a number of surviving wild populations. We report here a mitochondrial (mt) phylogenetic estimate of Moorean partulid wild and captive lineage survival calibrated with a reference museum collection that pre-dates the predator's introduction and that also includes a parallel dataset from the neighboring island of Tahiti.ResultsAlthough severe winnowing of Moorea's mt lineage diversity has occurred, seven of eight (six Partula; two Samoana) partulid tip clades remain extant. The extinct mt clade occurred predominantly in the P. suturalis species complex and it represented a major component of Moorea's endemic partulid treespace. Extant Moorean mt clades exhibited a complex spectrum of persistence on Moorea, in captivity, and (in the form of five phylogenetically distinct sister lineages) on Tahiti. Most notably, three Partula taxa, bearing two multi-island mt lineages, have survived decades of E. rosea predation on Moorea (P. taeniata) and in the valleys of Tahiti (P. hyalina and P. clara). Their differential persistence was correlated with intrinsic attributes, such as taxonomy and mt lineages, rather than with their respective within-island distribution patterns.ConclusionConservation efforts directed toward Moorean and Tahitian partulids have typically operated within a single island frame of reference, but our discovery of robust genealogical ties among survivors on both islands implies that a multi-island perspective is required. Understanding what genetic and/or ecological factors have enabled Partula taeniata, P. hyalina and P. clara to differentially survive long-term direct exposure to the predator may provide important clues toward developing a viable long term conservation plan for Society Island partulid tree snails.