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Evaluating pressures on Lemur demographic histories in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Evaluating pressures on Lemur demographic histories in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar

A. Chandrashekar, C. Pacioni, A.N. Mancini, T.L. Morelli and E.E. Louis
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Vol.171(S69), pp.48-49
2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24023
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Abstract

Ranomafana National Park (RNP) has one of the highest levels of primate biodiversity in the world, containing thirteen species of lemurs, three of which are critically endangered. While over 50% of the park is primary forest, the remainder has been subject to varying levels of logging and other anthropogenic and natural disturbance. To evaluate the effect of these pressures, we are reconstructing population demography across five diurnal lemur species that vary in size, loco-motor pattern, dietary diversity, and life history variables. Seven sites within RNP were visited and 38 Varecia variegata, 40 Eulemur rufifrons, 41 Hapalemur griseus, 42 Eulemur rubriventer, and 85 Propithecus edwardsi were genotyped using 10-17 microsatellite markers. Mode shift and heterozygosity excess tests were used to test for signatures of a historical bottleneck within all ܪve taxa. Three mutation models were used for heterozygosity excess tests: the stepwise muta-tion model (SMM), two-phase model (TPM), and infinite allele model (IAM). Though the mode shift test did not strongly indicate the presence of a historical bottleneck, heterozygosity excess was indicated under IAM and TPM models for V. variegata, E. rufifrons, E. rubriventer, H. griseus, and IAM only for P. edwardsi. Additionally, Extended Bayesian Skyline plots revealed that Varecia variegata once had large effective population sizes (~4,000) prior to a bottleneck, which then decreased gradually by 84% within the last 1,500 years. This comparison across morphologically and behaviorally diverse lemur species will allow us to investigate if and how anthropogenic and natural pressures impact population demography within the same habitat.

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