Biology Faculty Articles
Title
Patterns of Molecular Genetic Variation Among African Elephant Populations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2002
Publication Title
Molecular Ecology
Keywords
African elephant, Microsatellites, Phylogeography
ISSN
0962-1083
Volume
11
Issue/No.
12
First Page
2489
Last Page
2498
Abstract
The highly threatened African elephants have recently been subdivided into two species, Loxodonta africana (savannah or bush elephant) and L. cyclotis (forest elephant) based on morphological and molecular studies. A molecular genetic assessment of 16 microsatellite loci across 20 populations (189 individuals) affirms species level genetic differentiation and provides robust genotypic assessment of species affiliation. Savannah elephant populations show modest levels of phylogeographic subdivision based on composite microsatellite genotype, an indication of recent population isolation and restricted gene flow between locales. The savannah elephants show significantly lower genetic diversity than forest elephants, probably reflecting a founder effect in the recent history of the savannah species.
Additional Comments
US Fish and Wildlife Service grant #: 1448-98210-98-G145; NIH training grant #: T32 HG0035; GenBank accession #s: AF364123-AF364125
NSUWorks Citation
Comstock, Kenine E.; Nicholas Georgiadis; Jill Pecon-Slattery; Alfred L. Roca; Elaine A. Ostrander; Stephen J. O'Brien; and Samuel K. Wasser. 2002. "Patterns of Molecular Genetic Variation Among African Elephant Populations." Molecular Ecology 11, (12): 2489-2498. https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cnso_bio_facarticles/619
ORCID ID
0000-0001-7353-8301
ResearcherID
N-1726-2015
Comments
©2002 Blackwell Science Ltd.