Date: December
21, 2018
Source: University
of Wyoming
Fragmentation
of wildlife populations is increasing on a global scale, and understanding
current genetic structure, genetic diversity and genetic connectivity is key to
informing future wildlife management and conservation.
This is
true of mountain lion -- also known as pumas or cougars -- populations in
California, according to a new study conducted by a University of Wyoming
research team.
"Large
expanses of continuous habitat provide populations the opportunity to maintain
large numbers of gene variants, called alleles. This is analogous to a deck of
cards. If you have 40 cards, you are capable of harboring more types of cards
than if you had 10," says Kyle Gustafson, an assistant professor of
genetics in the Department of Biology and Environmental Health at Missouri
Southern State University, but who started this work in Holly Ernest's Wildlife
Genomics and Disease Ecology Lab at UW. "When populations get isolated,
like many of the puma populations surrounded by urbanization, the only way for
them to maintain a large number of alleles is through migration. Otherwise,
natural selection and genetic drift will ultimately lead to genetic uniformity
(fixation) and mating among related individuals (inbreeding)."
The new
study, titled "Genetic Source-Sink Dynamics Among Naturally Structured and
Anthropogenically Fragmented Puma Populations," was published Dec. 10
in Conservation Genetics, a journal that promotes the conservation of
biodiversity by providing a forum for data and ideas, aiding the further
developments of this area of study. Contributions include work from the
disciplines of population genetics, molecular ecology, molecular biology,
evolutionary biology, systematics and forensics.
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