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

• Tipo: Outra Publicação em Revista Científica Internacional
• Data: 2016

Autores

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

Revista

Título: Journal of Heredity

Vol. 107

Páginas: 101-103

ISSN: 0022-1503

Editora: Oxford University Press

Indexação

ISI Web of Knowledge - 3 Citações

Scopus - 3 Citações

Outras Informações

ID Authenticus: 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.

Idioma: Inglês

Tipo (Avaliação Docente): Científica

Nº de páginas: 3