Evaluating the Genetic Diversity of Three Endangered Lemur Species (Genus: Propithecus) from Northern Madagascar

Bailey, Carolyn A.; McLain, Adam T.

doi:10.4172/2167-6801.1000132

Cited by 9 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…Here, we used several methods and considered population structure and population size changes together in a combined framework. The abc models used were based on previously published population genetic studies on northern sifakas and samples from the entire species’ ranges (Bailey et al., ; Quéméré et al., , , ; Salmona et al., ). To provide a thorough and comparable set of results across the species, we analysed the data from the two species using the same methods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change and human colonization triggered habitat loss and fragmentation in Madagascar

et al. 2017

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The relative effect of past climate fluctuations and anthropogenic activities on current biome distribution is subject to increasing attention, notably in biodiversity hot spots. In Madagascar, where humans arrived in the last ~4 to 5,000 years, the exact causes of the demise of large vertebrates that cohabited with humans are yet unclear. The prevailing narrative holds that Madagascar was covered with forest before human arrival and that the expansion of grasslands was the result of human-driven deforestation. However, recent studies have shown that vegetation and fauna structure substantially fluctuated during the Holocene. Here, we study the Holocene history of habitat fragmentation in the north of Madagascar using a population genetics approach. To do so, we infer the demographic history of two northern Madagascar neighbouring, congeneric and critically endangered forest dwelling lemur species-Propithecus tattersalli and Propithecus perrieri-using population genetic analyses. Our results highlight the necessity to consider population structure and changes in connectivity in demographic history inferences. We show that both species underwent demographic fluctuations which most likely occurred after the mid-Holocene transition. While mid-Holocene climate change probably triggered major demographic changes in the two lemur species range and connectivity, human settlements that expanded over the last four millennia in northern Madagascar likely played a role in the loss and fragmentation of the forest cover.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change and human colonization triggered habitat loss and fragmentation in Madagascar

et al. 2017

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“…Lemurs were captured via a CO 2 projection rifle with ~ 10 mg/kg of Telazol (Fort Dodge Animal Health, Fort Dodge, IA, USA) [ 33 ]. Several 2.0 mm 2 tissue biopsies were collected from ear pinna, as well as ~ 2.0 cm 3 of whole blood from each individual.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genome sequence and population declines in the critically endangered greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus) and implications for conservation

Hawkins

Culligan²,

Frasier³

et al. 2018

BMC Genomics

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BackgroundThe greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus) is a member of the Family Lemuridae that is unique in their dependency on bamboo as a primary food source. This Critically Endangered species lives in small forest patches in eastern Madagascar, occupying a fraction of its historical range. Here we sequence the genome of the greater bamboo lemur for the first time, and provide genome resources for future studies of this species that can be applied across its distribution.ResultsFollowing whole genome sequencing of five individuals we identified over 152,000 polymorphic single nucleotide variants (SNVs), and evaluated geographic structuring across nearly 19 k SNVs. We characterized a stronger signal associated with a north-south divide than across elevations for our limited samples. We also evaluated the demographic history of this species, and infer a dramatic population crash. This species had the largest effective population size (estimated between ~ 900,000 to one million individuals) between approximately 60,000–90,000 years before present (ybp), during a time in which global climate change affected terrestrial mammals worldwide. We also note the single sample from the northern portion of the extant range had the largest effective population size around 35,000 ybp.ConclusionsFrom our whole genome sequencing we recovered an average genomic heterozygosity of 0.0037%, comparable to other lemurs. Our demographic history reconstructions recovered a probable climate-related decline (60–90,000 ybp), followed by a second population decrease following human colonization, which has reduced the species to a census size of approximately 1000 individuals. The historical distribution was likely a vast portion of Madagascar, minimally estimated at 44,259 km2, while the contemporary distribution is only ~ 1700 km2. The decline in effective population size of 89–99.9% corresponded to a vast range retraction. Conservation management of this species is crucial to retain genetic diversity across the remaining isolated populations.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-4841-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Finally, our findings are particularly relevant in the context of Madagascar where habitats are increasingly fragmented and many species have been losing genetic diversity (Craul et al 2009;Bailey et al 2016;Hawkins et al 2018;Vieilledent et al 2018). The effect of ecological disturbance on social structure in Malagasy species is not well studied.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Genetic consequences of social structure in the golden-crowned sifaka

et al. 2020

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Many species are structured in social groups (SGs) where individuals exhibit complex mating strategies. Yet, most population genetic studies ignore SGs either treating them as small random-mating units or focusing on a higher hierarchical level (the population). Empirical studies acknowledging SGs have found an overall excess of heterozygotes within SGs and usually invoke inbreeding avoidance strategies to explain this finding. However, there is a lack of null models against which ecological theories can be tested and inbreeding avoidance quantified. Here, we investigate inbreeding (deviation from random mating) in an endangered forest-dwelling pair-living lemur species (Propithecus tattersalli). In particular, we measure the inbreeding coefficient (FIS) in empirical data at different scales: SGs, sampling sites and forest patches. We observe high excess of heterozygotes within SGs. The magnitude of this excess is highly dependent on the sampling scheme: while offspring are characterised by a high excess of heterozygotes (FIS < 0), the reproductive pair does not show dramatic departures from Hardy–Weinberg expectations. Moreover, the heterozygosity excess disappears at larger geographic scales (sites and forests). We use a modelling framework that incorporates details of the sifaka mating system but does not include active inbreeding avoidance mechanisms. The simulated data show that, although apparent “random mating” or even inbreeding may occur at the “population” level, outbreeding is maintained within SGs. Altogether our results suggest that social structure leads to high levels of outbreeding without the need for active inbreeding avoidance mechanisms. Thus, demonstrating and measuring the existence of active inbreeding avoidance mechanisms may be more difficult than usually assumed.

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Evaluating the Genetic Diversity of Three Endangered Lemur Species (Genus: Propithecus) from Northern Madagascar

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Climate change and human colonization triggered habitat loss and fragmentation in Madagascar

Climate change and human colonization triggered habitat loss and fragmentation in Madagascar

Genome sequence and population declines in the critically endangered greater bamboo lemur (Prolemur simus) and implications for conservation

Genetic consequences of social structure in the golden-crowned sifaka

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