First evaluation of the population structure, genetic diversity and landscape connectivity of the Endangered Arabian tah
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
First evaluation of the population structure, genetic diversity and landscape connectivity of the Endangered Arabian tahr Steven Ross1 · Jean‑Marc Costanzi2 · Mansoor Al Jahdhami1 · Haitham Al Rawahi1 · Muhammad Ghazali2 · Helen Senn2 Received: 26 February 2020 / Accepted: 21 September 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The Arabian tahr (Arabitragus jayakari) occurs only in the mountains of northern Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The species is classified as Endangered due to its small declining population. In this study, we combined genetic and landscape ecology techniques in order to inform landscape scale conservation and genetic management of Arabian tahr. Using 540 base pairs of mitochondrial control region in a dataset of 53 samples, we found eight haplotypes, which fell into two haplogroups. Population genetic analysis using a panel of 14 microsatellite loci also showed a weak, but significant division. Analyses of landscape connectivity supported the genetic results showing poor connectivity between populations in the far south of the study area and those in the north. The most likely location of corridors connecting Arabian tahr populations were identified. Many corridors between tahr populations are impeded by multi-lane highways and restoration of these connections is required to maintain population viability of Arabian tahr. Owing to limited genetic samples outside of Wadi Sareen, further sampling is needed to elucidate both mtDNA and the nuclear structure of Arabian tahr more fully. Our study provides a toolkit that may be used for future genetic and connectivity monitoring of the Arabian tahr population. Keywords Arabian tahr · Hajar mountains · Genetic diversity · Genetic structure · Connectivity · Corridors
Introduction Anthropogenic habitat loss and fragmentation is known to negatively affect biodiversity by reducing suitable habitat area, habitat quality and connectivity between populations, and is recognised as the greatest threat to global biodiversity (Sala et al. 2000; Fahrig 2003; Baden et al. 2019). Because habitat loss and fragmentation often block natural connections between populations, conservationists have advocated the retention of habitat corridors, which are widely regarded Handling editor: Laura Iacolina. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-020-00072-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Jean‑Marc Costanzi jean‑[email protected] 1
Office for Conservation of the Environment, Diwan of Royal Court, P.O. Box 246, 100 Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
WildGenes Laboratory, Conservation Department, Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Edinburgh EH12 6TS, UK
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as essential for the persistence and viability of wildlife populations in fragmented landscapes (Beier and Noss 1998). Corridors facilitate movement and connectivity between isolated habitat patches. Although individual patches may be too small to maintain populations of area sensitive species, a w
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