Mitochondrial DNA Diversity in Gorillas

Alternative biological assumptions strongly influence models of climate change effects on mountain gorillas

“…Nevertheless, one could also propose an opposite hypothesis, of local adaptation. The two mountain gorilla populations are somewhat different and it has been proposed to split them into two species (Sarmiento et al 1996, Elgart 2010, although this has not been generally accepted (Stanford 2001), and it also appears they have been in recent reproductive contact (Garner andRyder 1996, Jensen-Seaman andKidd 2001) which suggests that there should at least be a corridor of suitable climate between the two mountain gorilla populations. Pearman et al (2010) suggested that splitting species into smaller groups produces more accurate SDM outputs for current climate predictions, but this may be a statistical artifact (Hijmans 2012).…”

“…The divergence of the eastern and western gorillas is at least 55,000 years old (Anthony et al 2007), and the divergence between the eastern lowland from the mountain gorilla, both members of the eastern lowland gorilla species, is likely more recent. The mountain gorilla has longer hair, higher rami, and longer mandibles than the eastern lowland gorilla but there are morphological intergradations, and in the past some populations were classified as eastern lowland by some studies, and mountain gorilla by others (Garner andRyder 1996, Elgart 2010). Whereas the mountain gorilla may be better adapted to colder conditions than the eastern lowland gorilla, it seems plausible that the mountain gorilla could also persist in much lower (warmer) areas, even beyond those lost to them by human incursion over the past decades.…”

“…The extent of the habitat available to gorillas has declined in the second half of the 20th century, but the mountain gorilla population size has increased in recent decades because of improved management, including stronger anti-poaching measures and veterinary interventions, stimulated by the financial benefits from tourism (Robbins et al 2011b). Nevertheless, the mountain gorilla population size is very low, which exposes them to additional risks including inbreeding depression (Garner and Ryder 1996). Further, they are restricted to two relatively small geographic areas, which is inherently risky as it increases vulnerability to epidemics, and natural and other disasters, including civil unrest (Muruthi et al 2000), and potentially to impacts from climate change.…”

Sanctuaries and Reintroduction: A Role in Gorilla Conservation?

“…They are the most intensely studied and habituated gorilla populations, with the highest density of humans and associated land use around their very limited habitats. Studies have shown that each individual's genetic makeup is extremely important to the viability of the population (Garner and Ryder, 1996). The approach to conservation medicine with the mountain gorillas is different from other gorilla populations because of the closely monitored activities and health of gorilla individuals, and the fact that habituated individuals can be clinically managed with less risk to the veterinarian or animal than is the nonhabituated gorillas.…”

Extraction and Detection of mRNA from Horsehair

“…Nucleic acids are routinely extracted from hair fibers in forensic science for genetic analysis [1,15,18,20,21,26] and in conservation biology for investigation of population structure and molecular evolution [5,10,14,29,35]. Methods for extracting DNA from hair fibers have been extensively studied [2,11,13,27,37,39].…”