Genetic variability in relocated Pere David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus) populations - Implications to reintroduction program

Since 1985, China has established three breeding herds of Pere David's deer: the Beijing Pere David's Deer Park (39 degrees 07'N, 116 degrees 03'E), the Dafeng Pere David's Deer Nature Reserve (33 degrees 05'N, 120 degrees 49'E) and Shishou (Tianezhou) Pere David's Deer Nature Reserve (29 degrees 49'N, 112 degrees 33'E), through reintroductions of about 30-40 founders. Since establishment, all three populations have grown steadily. However, genetic backgrounds in those populations are still unknown. We studied the genetic diversity in Pere David's deer and genetic consequences of population relocations in China. We revealed that genetic diversity was extremely low in Pere David's deer populations in China. Only a single mtDNA D-loop haplotype was found in the deer, furthermore, only five polymorphic microsatellite loci were screened out from 84 pairs of species-transferred primers. Genetic makeup in the three Pere David's deer populations were significantly different (P < 0.01). H-E and allelic richness in the Tianezhou population Were the highest (0.54, 2.60, n = 31), Beijing population (0.52, 2.4, n = 125) showed the second highest measures, while the Dafeng population (0.46, 2.39, n = 39) measured lowest. Our results suggest that effective management of a species of low genetic diversity like the Pere David's deer should consider the genetic background of each founder to make sure genetic variations are preserved in both source population and relocated population. Now, the Tianezhou population is the most appropriate source population in China when establishing new Pere David deer populations in the wild.