Genetic Diversity, Population Size, and Conservation of the Critically Endangered Perrier’s Sifaka (Propithecus perrieri)

Genetic Diversity, Population Size, and Conservation of the Critically Endangered Perrier’s Sifaka (Propithecus perrieri)

Genetic data can be combined with ecological data to study the demographic history of a species, identify landscape features that influence migration patterns, and guide conservation efforts. Perrier’s sifaka ( Propithecus perrieri ) is a Critically Endangered, rare, and elusive social lemur living...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of primatology Vol. 36; no. 6; pp. 1132 - 1153
Main Authors: Salmona, Jordi, Teixeira, Helena, Rasolondraibe, Emmanuel, Aleixo-Pais, Isa, Kun-Rodrigues, Célia, Rakotonanahary, Ando Nantenaina, Jan, Fabien, Rabarivola, Clément Joseph, Zaonarivelo, John Rigobert, Andriaholinirina, Nicole Volasoa, Chikhi, Lounès
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York Springer US 01-12-2015
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Animal Ecology
Animal Genetics and Genomics
Animal migration
Anthropology
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Endangered & extinct species
Evolutionary Biology
Genetic diversity
Genetic markers
Grasslands
Habitat fragmentation
Habitat loss
Human Genetics
Landscape
Lemur
Life Sciences
Population decline
Population number
Primates
Protected areas
Zoology
Madagascar
Indriidae
Bottleneck
Madagascar
Lemur
Strepsirrhini
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Summary:Genetic data can be combined with ecological data to study the demographic history of a species, identify landscape features that influence migration patterns, and guide conservation efforts. Perrier’s sifaka ( Propithecus perrieri ) is a Critically Endangered, rare, and elusive social lemur living in a very restricted, fragmented landscape. To assess the effect of habitat loss and fragmentation on the genetic diversity of the Perrier’s sifaka population we examined 24 microsatellite markers genotyped for 67 samples corresponding to 42 individuals. Perrier’s sifaka shows a low current effective population size ( ca. 52–105) and a strong heterozygosity excess, suggesting a historically large but dwindling population. Moreover, we identified a pattern of isolation by distance, typical of continuous habitat, suggesting that sifakas were still able to cross the grasslands between forest fragments in the recent past. Our study calls for a unified conservation plan covering the two protected areas where the species is still present, if not the whole area of its past distribution. Further studies inferring the past demographic history of Perrier’s sifaka may confirm the population decline and shed light on its potential causes.
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ISSN:0164-0291
1573-8604
DOI:10.1007/s10764-015-9881-x