Genetic Evidence for Contrasting Wetland and Savannah Habitat Specializations in Different Populations of Lions (Panthera leo)

• Type: Another Publication in an International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2016

Authors

Moore, AE (Author) Other; Cotterill, FPD (Author) Other; Winterbach, CW (Author) Other; Winterbach, HEK (Author) Other; Agostinho Antunes (Author) FCUP; O'Brien, SJ (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Journal of Heredity

Vol. 107

Pages: 101-103

ISSN: 0022-1503

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 3 Citations

Scopus - 3 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00K-6BM

DOI: 10.1093/jhered/esv097

Abstract (EN): South-central Africa is characterized by an archipelago of wetlands, which has evolved in time and space since at least the Miocene, providing refugia for animal species during Pleistocene arid episodes. Their importance for biodiversity in the region is reflected in the evolution of a variety of specialist mammal and bird species, adapted to exploit these wetland habitats. Populations of lions (Panthera leo) across south-central and east Africa have contrasting signatures of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes and biparental nuclear DNA in wetland and savannah habitats, respectively, pointing to the evolution of distinct habitat preferences. This explains the absence of genetic admixture of populations from the Kalahari savannah of southwest Botswana and the Okavango wetland of northern Botswana, despite separation by only 500 km. We postulate that ancestral lions were wetland specialists and that the savannah lions evolved from populations that were isolated during arid Pleistocene episodes. Expansion of grasslands and the resultant increase in herbivore populations during mesic Pleistocene climatic episodes provided the stimulus for the rapid population expansion and diversification of the highly successful savannah lion specialists. Our model has important implications for lion conservation.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 3