Snow leopard phylogeography and population structure supports two global populations with single refugial origin

Author(s)Cancellare, Imogene A.
Author(s)Weckworth, Byron
Author(s)Caragiulo, Anthony
Author(s)Pilgrim, Kristine L.
Author(s)McCarthy, Thomas M.
Author(s)Abdullaev, Alisher
Author(s)Amato, George
Author(s)Bian, Xiaoxing
Author(s)Bykova, Elena
Author(s)Dias-Freedman, Isabela
Author(s)Gritsina, Mariya
Author(s)Hennelly, Lauren M.
Author(s)Janjua, Safia
Author(s)Johansson, Orjan
Author(s)Kachel, Shannon
Author(s)Karnaukhov, Alexander
Author(s)Korablev, Miroslav
Author(s)Kubanychbekov, Zairbek
Author(s)Kulenbekov, Rahim
Author(s)Liang, Xuchang
Author(s)Lkhagvajav, Purevjav
Author(s)Meyer, Tara K.
Author(s)Munkhtsog, Bariushaa
Author(s)Munkhtsog, Bayaraa
Author(s)Nawaz, Muhammad A.
Author(s)Ostrowski, Stephane
Author(s)Paltsyn, Mikhail
Author(s)Poyarkov, Andrey
Author(s)Rabinowitz, Salisa
Author(s)Rooney, Thomas
Author(s)Rosen, Tatjana
Author(s)Rozhnov, Viatcheslav V.
Author(s)Sacks, Benjamin N.
Author(s)Schwartz, Michael K.
Author(s)McCarthy, Kyle P.
Date Accessioned2024-10-17T15:28:18Z
Date Available2024-10-17T15:28:18Z
Publication Date2024-10-12
DescriptionThis article was originally published in Biodiversity and Conservation. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-024-02928-4. © The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
AbstractSnow leopards (Panthera uncia) inhabit the mountainous regions of High Asia, which experienced serial glacial contraction and expansion during climatic cycles of the Pleistocene. The corresponding impacts of glacial vicariance may have alternately promoted or constrained genetic differentiation to shape the distribution of genetic lineages and population structure. We studied snow leopard phylogeography across High Asia by examining range-wide historical and contemporary genetic structure with mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite markers. We genotyped 182 individuals from across snow leopard range and sequenced portions of the mitogenome in a spatially stratified subset of 80 individuals to infer historical biogeographic and contemporary patterns of genetic diversity. We observed a lack of phylogeographic structure, and analyses suggested a single refugial origin for all sampled populations. Molecular data provided tentative evidence of a hypothesized glacial refugia in the Tian Shan-Pamir-Hindu Kush-Karakoram mountain ranges, and detected mixed signatures of population expansion. Concordant assessments of microsatellite data indicated two global genetic populations, though we detected geographic differences between historical and contemporary population structure and connectivity inferred from mitochondrial and microsatellite data, respectively. Using the largest sample size and geographic coverage to date, we demonstrate novel information on the phylogeographic history of snow leopards, and corroborate existing interpretations of snow leopard connectivity and genetic structure. We recommend that conservation efforts incorporate genetic data to define and protect meaningful conservation units and their underlying genetic diversity, and to maintain the snow leopard’s adaptive potential and continued resilience to environmental changes.
SponsorThis work was supported by Panthera, the University of Delaware, and the National Geographic Society.
CitationCancellare, I.A., Weckworth, B., Caragiulo, A. et al. Snow leopard phylogeography and population structure supports two global populations with single refugial origin. Biodivers Conserv (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-024-02928-4
ISSN1572-9710
URLhttps://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/35268
Languageen_US
PublisherBiodiversity and Conservation
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Keywordsconservation genetics
Keywordsglacial refugia
Keywordshigh Asia
KeywordsPanthera uncia
Keywordsphylogeography
Keywordssnow leopard
TitleSnow leopard phylogeography and population structure supports two global populations with single refugial origin
TypeArticle
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