DNA Analysis Indicates That Asian Elephants Are Native to Borneo and Are Therefore a High Priority for Conservation

Fernando, Prithiviraj; Vidya, T. N. C.; Payne, John C.; Stüewe, Michael; Davison, G.W.H.; Alfred, Rayner; Andau, Patrick; Bosi, Edwin J.; Kilbourn, Annelisa M.; Melnick, Don J.

doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0000006

Cited by 114 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Most ESU studies have favored large mammals (Georgiadis et al, 1994;O'Ryan et al, 1994;Fleischer et al, 2001;Fernando et al, 2003). Because large mammals generally have a low effective population size, discussion focuses on the preservation of populations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographic variation in mitochondrial DNA of Bombus ignitus (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Tokoro

Yoneda

Kunitake

et al. 2010

Appl. Entomol. Zool.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographic variation in mitochondrial DNA of Bombus ignitus (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Tokoro

Yoneda

Kunitake

et al. 2010

Appl. Entomol. Zool.

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“…Bornean elephants are morphometrically distinct, with larger ears, longer tails, straighter tusks and a more rounded body shape than Asian elephants on the mainland (Othman et al 2008). Arguably, Bornean elephants are a genetically distinct subspecies of Asian elephant and constitute an evolutionary significant conservation unit (Fernando et al 2003). Regardless of their origins, Bornean elephants are a conservation priority as an iconic flagship and umbrella species carrying out vital ecosystem services (Campos-Arceiz & Corlett 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

First parasitological survey of Endangered Bornean elephants Elephas maximus borneensis

Hing¹,

Othman²,

Nathan³

et al. 2013

Endang. Species. Res.

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Relatively few studies have been carried out on the parasites of free-ranging wild animal species, which has led to a lack of baseline parasitological data. This is a concern because endoparasites can have an important influence on fitness and survival, particularly in small populations of endangered species. This field study is the first parasitological survey of Endangered Bornean elephants Elephas maximus borneensis. Using a special modification of the McMaster method, trematode, cestode and nematode ova were identified in the faeces of wild Bornean elephants in 2 key range areas in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo: the Tabin Wildlife Reserve and the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary. Preliminary comparisons between the sites suggest that prevalence, load and diversity vary between the two, leading to hypotheses on host, parasite and environmental factors which may affect endoparasite infection dynamics in wild Bornean elephants. This study provides an initial catalogue of parasite types in the Bornean elephant and reports on endoparasite prevalence and load, valuable baseline data for future research.KEY WORDS: Bornean elephant · Endoparasites · Trematode · Cestode · Nematode · Anoplocephala · Fasciola Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherEndang Species Res 21: [223][224][225][226][227][228][229][230] 2013 wildlife and habitat health because environmental changes impact upon hosts, parasites and their shared environment (Lafferty 1997, Marcogliese 2005. In 2012 for the very first time, a chapter in a conservation textbook was dedicated to links be tween habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and infectious disease ecology (Suzan et al. 2012). Habitat loss and fragmentation can affect infection dy namics via a variety of mechanisms, including hindering animal movement, impeding gene flow (Coulon et al. 2004), facilitating edge effects (Chapman et al. 2006a), introducing environmental contamination (Deem et al. 2001), altering the ecology of intermediate hosts (Page et al. 2001), changing host population size and density (Mbora & McPeek 2009), limiting nutrition (Chapman et al. 2006b), facilitating contact and conflict with people (Nelson et al. 2003), and subjecting animals to psychological and physiological stress, thereby affecting immunocompetence (McCallum & Dobson 2002). Parasites have the potential to be used as indicators of stress in wildlife threatened by habitat fragmentation (Schwitzer et al. 2010).The main threats to the survival of Bornean elephants Elephas maximus borneensis (Fig. 1), and indeed Asian elephants E. maximus on the mainland, are anthropogenic habitat loss and fragmentation (Ambu et al. 2012). Asian elephants, including Bornean elephants, are listed by the IUCN as Endangered (Choudhury et al. 2008). Bornean elephants are morphometrically distinct, with larger ears, longer tails, straighter tusks and a more rounded body shape than Asian elephants on the mainland (Othman et al. 2008). Arguably, Bornean elephants are a genetically distinct ...

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“…Genetic analysis of the Bornean elephants revealed low genetic diversity compared to that of other mainland Asian elephant populations (Goossens et al, 2016) such as populations in Laos (Ahlering et al, 2011) and Cambodia (Gray et al, 2014). Only one mitochondrial haplotype was found in the studied populations (Fernando et al, 2003;Goossens et al, 2016). A low but significant level of genetic differentiation was detected, possibly due to the existence of gene flow between populations within the region or recent fragmentation (Goossens et al, 2016).…”

Section: Population Fragmentation In Human-dominated Areasmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…Mitochondrial DNA is maternally inherited. It is a suitable DNA marker to refer genetics of maternal lineage and to study a population in evolutionary aspects such as evolutionary phylogeny and phylogeography (Fleischer, Perry, Muralidharan, Stevens, & Wemmer, 2001;Fernando et al, 2003;Vidya, Sukumar, & Melnick, 2009). DNA primers for amplification of the mitochondrial DNA fragment of the Asian elephant have been designed and used to study mitochondrial haplotype distribution of wild populations across their range (Fleischer et al, 2001;Vidya et al, 2009), and in particular populations in Sri Lanka (Fernando, Pfrender, Encalada, & Lande, 2000), India (Vidya, Fernando, Melnick, & Sukumar, 2005b), Vietnam (Vidya et al, 2007), Laos (Ahlering et al, 2011), peninsular Malaysia (Elliza, Shukor, Othman, & Md-Zain, 2015), Sumatra (Moßbrucker et al, 2015), and Borneo (Goossens et al, 2016).…”

Section: Mitochondrial Dnamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The habitat of the Bornean elephants those are distributed only in Borneo Island and considered as an evolutionarily significant unit (Fernando et al, 2003), was highly fragmented due to land conversion to palm oil plantations and human settlement. Genetic analysis of the Bornean elephants revealed low genetic diversity compared to that of other mainland Asian elephant populations (Goossens et al, 2016) such as populations in Laos (Ahlering et al, 2011) and Cambodia (Gray et al, 2014).…”

Section: Population Fragmentation In Human-dominated Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic Tools for the Conservation of Wild Asian Elephants

Kongrit

2017

IJB

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The distribution of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) has been limited to the remaining discontinuous forests, mainly in the South and Southeast Asia. A global number of wild Asian elephants have been declining due to habitat loss, forest fragmentation, and anthropogenic disturbance. Acquiring information of wild populations is important for effective conservation and management plan. This article reviews the applications of noninvasive genetic method as a tool for studying wild Asian elephants. Noninvasive genetic method has been introduced to the field of wildlife conservation for more than two decades. The method provides reliable information of a population and facilitates investigation of genetic effects on small and fragmented populations. Various DNA markers for the Asian elephant, those include mitochondrial DNA, microsatellite DNA, and sex determination markers, have been developed and used to study wild elephant populations across the distribution range. Most of the studies revealed the issues of low genetic diversity in the small populations and interruption of gene flow among the fragmented populations. Tracking of ivory poaching has not yet been done in the Asian elephant. It could be carried out if a reference genetic database of the natural populations is available. Noninvasive genetic method has been proved to be a promising tool for conservation of the wild Asian elephants. Transboundary collaboration would give hope for a successful long-term conservation of this charismatic species in their natural habitats.

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DNA Analysis Indicates That Asian Elephants Are Native to Borneo and Are Therefore a High Priority for Conservation

Cited by 114 publications

References 26 publications

Geographic variation in mitochondrial DNA of Bombus ignitus (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

Geographic variation in mitochondrial DNA of Bombus ignitus (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

First parasitological survey of Endangered Bornean elephants Elephas maximus borneensis

Genetic Tools for the Conservation of Wild Asian Elephants

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