Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY
Volume 76, Issue 9, Pages 868-878Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22274
Keywords
Gorilla gorilla gorilla; population structure; sex-specific dispersal; philopatry
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Funding
- Max Planck Society
- National Science Foundation [SBR-9729126]
- L. S. B. Leakey Foundation
- US Fish and Wildlife Services-Great Ape Conservation Fund
- Conservation International-Margot Marsh Biodiversity Fund
- University of Rome La Sapienza
- Arcus Foundation
- Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
- Dunemere Foundation
- Bradley L. Goldberg Foundation
- National Institutes of Health [R01 AI50529]
- Agence Nationale de Recherches sur le SIDA, France [ANRS 12255]
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To understand the evolutionary histories and conservation potential of wild animal species it is useful to assess whether taxa are genetically structured into different populations and identify the underlying factors responsible for any clustering. Landscape features such as rivers may influence genetic population structure, and analysis of structure by sex can further reveal effects of sex-specific dispersal. Using microsatellite genotypes obtained from noninvasively collected fecal samples we investigated the population structure of 261 western lowland gorillas (WLGs) (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) from seven locations spanning an approximately 37,000 km(2) region of mainly continuous rain forest within Central African Republic (CAR), Republic of Congo and Cameroon. We found our sample to consist of two or three significantly differentiated clusters. The boundaries of the clusters coincided with courses of major rivers. Moreover, geographic distance detoured around rivers better-explained variation in genetic distance than straight line distance. Together these results suggest that major rivers in our study area play an important role in directing WLG gene flow. The number of clusters did not change when males and females were analyzed separately, indicating a lack of greater philopatry in WLG females than males at this scale. (C) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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