Topic
Eliurus carletoni
About: Eliurus carletoni is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3 publications have been published within this topic receiving 33 citations.
Papers
TL;DR: Using mitochondrial markers and a combination of traditional and coalescent‐based phylogeographical, historical demographic and population genetic methods, evidence suggests that historical demographic events occurred within the last 25 000 years BP, which strongly support the proposed late Quaternary shifts in the floristic composition of the Loky‐Manambato region.
Abstract: The Loky-Manambato region, located in northern Madagascar, is a biotically rich contact zone between different forest biomes. Local current forest cover is composed of both humid and dry formations, which show elevational stratification. A recent phylogeographical study of a regional dry forest rodent, Eliurus carletoni (subfamily Nesomyinae), found genetic evidence of forest contractions between 18 750 and 7500 years BP, which based on extrapolation of the pollen subfossil record, was thought to be associated with an expansion of local humid forests. Herein, we conduct a genetic test of this hypothesis and focused on populations on two neighbouring massifs of forest-dependent rodent species, one associated with low-elevation dry forests (E. carletoni) and the other with higher elevation humid forests (Eliurus tanala). Using mitochondrial markers and a combination of traditional and coalescent-based phylogeographical, historical demographic and population genetic methods, we found evidence of historical connections between populations of E. tanala. Adjacent populations of E. carletoni and E. tanala exhibit opposite historical demographic patterns, and for both, evidence suggests that historical demographic events occurred within the last 25 000 years BP. These findings strongly support the proposed late Quaternary shifts in the floristic composition of the Loky-Manambato region.
26 citations
TL;DR: The data suggest that the complex genetic patterns of E. carletoni can be explained by Quaternary climatic vicissitudes that resulted in habitat fluctuations between dry and humid forests, as well as subsequent human-induced fragmentation of forest habitat.
Abstract: We conducted a mitochondrial phylogeographic study of the endemic dry forest rodent Eliurus carletoni (Rodentia: Nesomyinae) in an ecological transition zone of northern Madagascar (Loky-Manambato) and 2 surrounding regions (Ankarana and Analamerana). The main goal was to assess the evolutionary consequences on this taxon of the complex landscape features and Quaternary ecological vicissitudes. Three haplogroups were identified from the 215 specimens obtained from 15 populations. High levels of genetic diversity and significant genetic differentiation among populations were observed. The different geographical subdivisions of the study area by regions, by river catchment zones, and the physical distance between populations are not correlated with genetic patterns. In contrast, population structure is mostly explained by the geographic distribution of the samples among existing forest blocks. E. carletoni experienced a genetic bottleneck between 18 750 and 7500 years BP, which correlates with periods when moister climates existed on the island. Overall, our data suggest that the complex genetic patterns of E. carletoni can be explained by Quaternary climatic vicissitudes that resulted in habitat fluctua tions between dry and humid forests, as well as subsequent human-induced fragmentation of forest habitat.
23 citations
TL;DR: Eight polymorphic loci that may be used in conservation and population genetics studies of E. carletoni are identified and one locus was found to be monomorphic.
Abstract: We developed microsatellite markers for the recently described forest rodent, Eliurus carletoni, from an enriched genomic library. Nine loci composed of four dinucleotide, one trinucleotide, one tetranucleotide and three compound repeats were isolated and characterized using two wild populations. One locus was found to be monomorphic. For the polymorphic loci, the average number of alleles per locus was 7.13 and 8.38 for each population. Mean expected and observed heterozygosities were high (i.e. 0.76 and 0.80). Tests for linkage disequilibrium were not significant across all locus pairs. One locus tested significant for null alleles, but only one population exhibited a significant deviation from the Hardy–Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) at this locus. All remaining loci show no evidence of departure from HWE. Overall, we identified eight polymorphic loci that may be used in conservation and population genetics studies of E. carletoni.
2 citations
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 3 |