Extended and Continuous Decline in Effective Population Size Results in Low Genomic Diversity in the World’s Rarest Hyena Species, the Brown Hyena
- Westbury, Michael V, Hartmann, Stefanie, Barlow, Axel, Wiesel, Ingrid, Leo, Viyanna, Welch, Rebecca J, Parker, Daniel M, Sicks, Florian, Ludwig, Arne, Dalén, Love, Hofreiter, Michael
- Authors: Westbury, Michael V , Hartmann, Stefanie , Barlow, Axel , Wiesel, Ingrid , Leo, Viyanna , Welch, Rebecca J , Parker, Daniel M , Sicks, Florian , Ludwig, Arne , Dalén, Love , Hofreiter, Michael
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124482 , vital:35616 , https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msy037
- Description: Hyenas (family Hyaenidae), as the sister group to cats (family Felidae), represent a deeply diverging branch within the cat-like carnivores (Feliformia). With an estimated population size of < 10,000 individuals worldwide, the brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea) represents the rarest of the four extant hyena species and has been listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN. Here, we report a high-coverage genome from a captive bred brown hyena and both mitochondrial and low coverage nuclear genomes of 14 wild-caught brown hyena individuals from across southern Africa.We find that brown hyena harbor extremely low genetic diversity on both the mitochondrial and nuclear level, most likely resulting from a continuous and ongoing decline in effective population size that started_1Ma and dramatically accelerated towards the end of the Pleistocene. Despite the strikingly low genetic diversity, we find no evidence of inbreeding within the captive bred individual and reveal phylogeographic structure, suggesting the existence of several potential subpopulations within the species.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Westbury, Michael V , Hartmann, Stefanie , Barlow, Axel , Wiesel, Ingrid , Leo, Viyanna , Welch, Rebecca J , Parker, Daniel M , Sicks, Florian , Ludwig, Arne , Dalén, Love , Hofreiter, Michael
- Date: 2018
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124482 , vital:35616 , https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msy037
- Description: Hyenas (family Hyaenidae), as the sister group to cats (family Felidae), represent a deeply diverging branch within the cat-like carnivores (Feliformia). With an estimated population size of < 10,000 individuals worldwide, the brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea) represents the rarest of the four extant hyena species and has been listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN. Here, we report a high-coverage genome from a captive bred brown hyena and both mitochondrial and low coverage nuclear genomes of 14 wild-caught brown hyena individuals from across southern Africa.We find that brown hyena harbor extremely low genetic diversity on both the mitochondrial and nuclear level, most likely resulting from a continuous and ongoing decline in effective population size that started_1Ma and dramatically accelerated towards the end of the Pleistocene. Despite the strikingly low genetic diversity, we find no evidence of inbreeding within the captive bred individual and reveal phylogeographic structure, suggesting the existence of several potential subpopulations within the species.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
Sacrificial males the potential role of copulation and predation in contributing to copepod sex-skewed ratios
- Wasserman, Ryan J, Weston, Mark, Weyl, Olaf, L F, Froneman, P William, Welch, Rebecca J, Vink, Tim J F, Dalu, Tatenda
- Authors: Wasserman, Ryan J , Weston, Mark , Weyl, Olaf, L F , Froneman, P William , Welch, Rebecca J , Vink, Tim J F , Dalu, Tatenda
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/467233 , vital:76843 , https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.04832
- Description: Predation is thought to play a selective role in the emergence of behavioural traits in prey. Differences in behaviour between prey demographics may, therefore, be driven by predation with select components of the population being less vulnerable to predators. While under controlled conditions prey demography has been shown to have consequences for predation success, investigations linking these implications to natural prey population demographics are scarce. Here we assess predator–prey dynamics between notonectid predators (backswimmers) and Lovenula raynerae (Copepoda), key faunal groups in temperate ephemeral pond ecosystems. Using a combination of field and experimental approaches we test for the development and mechanism of predation‐induced sex‐skewed ratios. A natural population of L. raynerae was tracked over time in relation to their predator (notonectid) and prey (Cladocera) numbers. In the laboratory, L. raynerae sex ratios were also assessed over time but in the absence of predation pressure.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
- Authors: Wasserman, Ryan J , Weston, Mark , Weyl, Olaf, L F , Froneman, P William , Welch, Rebecca J , Vink, Tim J F , Dalu, Tatenda
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/467233 , vital:76843 , https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.04832
- Description: Predation is thought to play a selective role in the emergence of behavioural traits in prey. Differences in behaviour between prey demographics may, therefore, be driven by predation with select components of the population being less vulnerable to predators. While under controlled conditions prey demography has been shown to have consequences for predation success, investigations linking these implications to natural prey population demographics are scarce. Here we assess predator–prey dynamics between notonectid predators (backswimmers) and Lovenula raynerae (Copepoda), key faunal groups in temperate ephemeral pond ecosystems. Using a combination of field and experimental approaches we test for the development and mechanism of predation‐induced sex‐skewed ratios. A natural population of L. raynerae was tracked over time in relation to their predator (notonectid) and prey (Cladocera) numbers. In the laboratory, L. raynerae sex ratios were also assessed over time but in the absence of predation pressure.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2018
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