Field Studies of Population Genetics in Eulemur: A Discussion of Their Potential Importance in Conservation

Scheffrahn, Wolfgang; Rabarivola, Clément; Rumpler, Y.

doi:10.1159/000052708

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The paleontological history has showed tremendous losses of both forests and lemurs since the arrival of humans to Madagascar (Godfrey et al, 1997a;Lowry et al, 1997). Lemur populations in heavily fragmented or logged habitats are more at risk from devastation by climate factors such as drought or cyclones because they lack the ''insurance'' of being able to retreat into larger forested areas and may also suffer from reduced genetic variability (Arnaud et al, 1992;Merenlender, 1993;Pope, 1992Pope, , 1996Pope, , 1998Rabarivola et al, 1998;Scheffrahn et al, 1998). Still remaining lemurs are vulnerable to human disturbance, such as selective logging, in addition to the continuing threat of deforestation of Madagascar (Mittermeier, 1988;Mittermeier et al, 1994;Wright, 1992Wright, , 1997aGanzhorn, 1995;White et al, 1995;Richard and O'Conner, 1997).…”

Section: Implications For Lemur Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lemur traits and Madagascar ecology: Coping with an island environment

Wright¹

1999

Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

510

496

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The last decade's lemur research includes successes in discovering new living and extinct species and learning about the distribution, biogeography, physiology, behavior, and ecology of previously little-studied species. In addition, in both the dry forest and rain forest, long-term studies of lemur demography, life history, and reproduction, have been completed in conjunction with data on tree productivity, phenology, and climate. Lemurs contrast with anthropoids in several behavioral features, including female dominance, targeted female-female aggression, lack of sexual dimorphism regardless of mating system, sperm competition coupled with male-male aggression, high infant mortality, cathemerality, and strict seasonal breeding. Hypotheses to explain these traits include the "energy conservation hypothesis" (ECH) suggesting that harsh and unpredictable climate factors on the island of Madagascar have affected the evolution of female dominance, and the "evolutionary disequilibrium hypotheses" (EVDH) suggesting that the recent megafauna extinctions have influenced lemurs to become diurnal. These hypotheses are compared and contrasted in light of recent empirical data on climate, subfossils, and lemur behavior. New data on life histories of the rain forest lemurs at Ranomafana National Park give further support to the ECH. Birth seasons are synchronized within each species, but there is a 6-month distribution of births among species. Gestation and lactation lengths vary among sympatric lemurs, but all lemur species in the rain forest wean in synchrony at the season most likely to have abundant resources. Across-species weaning synchrony seen in Ranomafana corroborates data from the dry forest that late lactation and weaning is the life history event that is the primary focus of the annual schedule. Lemur adaptations may assure maximum offspring survival in this environment with an unpredictable food supply and heavy predation. In conclusion, a more comprehensive energy frugality hypothesis (EFH) is proposed, which postulates that the majority of lemur traits are either adaptations to conserve energy (e.g., low basal metabolic rate (BMR), torpor, sperm competition, small group size, seasonal breeding) or to maximize use of scarce resources (e.g., cathemerality, territoriality, female dominance, fibrous diet, weaning synchrony). Among primates, the isolated adaptive radiation of lemurs on Madagascar may have been uniquely characterized by selection toward efficiency to cope with the harsh and unpredictable island environment.

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Section: Implications For Lemur Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lemur traits and Madagascar ecology: Coping with an island environment

Wright¹

1999

Am. J. Phys. Anthropol.

510

496

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“…For several reasons, the true lemurs of Madagascar (genus Eulemur , 12 species) form an excellent primate system that can be used to study the interplay between species limits and gene flow: (a) Eulemur experienced recent, rapid radiation, with a known history of hybridization [ 37 , 38 ]; (b) excellent resources are available for their genetics, geographic range, diet, and social behavior [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ]; (c) the study of their biodiversity is important in light of urgent conservation concerns [ 43 , 44 ]. For many years, Eulemur was assumed to be a species-limited clade and was dismissed by many as Madagascar’s “little brown lemurs” (a nod to “little brown birds” à la ornithology) [ 45 , 46 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Pervasive History of Gene Flow in Madagascar’s True Lemurs (Genus Eulemur)

Everson

Donohue

Weisrock

2023

Genes

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In recent years, it has become widely accepted that interspecific gene flow is common across the Tree of Life. Questions remain about how species boundaries can be maintained in the face of high levels of gene flow and how phylogeneticists should account for reticulation in their analyses. The true lemurs of Madagascar (genus Eulemur, 12 species) provide a unique opportunity to explore these questions, as they form a recent radiation with at least five active hybrid zones. Here, we present new analyses of a mitochondrial dataset with hundreds of individuals in the genus Eulemur, as well as a nuclear dataset containing hundreds of genetic loci for a small number of individuals. Traditional coalescent-based phylogenetic analyses of both datasets reveal that not all recognized species are monophyletic. Using network-based approaches, we also find that a species tree containing between one and three ancient reticulations is supported by strong evidence. Together, these results suggest that hybridization has been a prominent feature of the genus Eulemur in both the past and present. We also recommend that greater taxonomic attention should be paid to this group so that geographic boundaries and conservation priorities can be better established.

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“…Rabarivola 1998), with questionable reproducibility of results (Perez et al 1998). Identification of genetically unique populations for management purposes (Scheffrahn et al 1998), development of genetically sound breeding programmes, and better understanding of lemur social structure are among the conservation-related reasons for interest in quantifying lemur genetic diversity.…”

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confidence: 99%