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IUCN 2nd African Buffalo Symposium

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https://hdl.handle.net/10217/180914
This digital collection includes presentations from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) 2nd African Buffalo Symposium, which was held in conjunction with the 9th International Wildlife Ranching Symposium in 2016.

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Browsing IUCN 2nd African Buffalo Symposium by Author "Chardonnet, Philippe, author"

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    Evolutionary history of the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) at continental scale based on mitochondrial and nuclear molecular markers
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016-09) Smitz, Nathalie, author; Heller, Rasmus, author; Van Hooft, Pim, author; Cornélis, Daniel, author; Chardonnet, Philippe, author; Caron, Alexandre, author; de Garine-Wichatitsky, Michel, author; Michaux, Johan, author; International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, publisher
    The African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) exhibits extreme morphological variability at the continental scale. Today, four subspecies are recognized based on morphological characteristics, with three subspecies distributed in the West-Central African region and the last one covering the Southern and the Eastern African regions. Based on the mtDNA D-Loop region and on more than 42,000 SNP genetic markers (Single-Nucleotide-Polymorphism), the present study aimed to investigate the evolutionary history of the species by inferring the pan-African spatial distribution of its genetic diversity. All analyses converged on the existence of two distinct lineages, corresponding to a group encompassing West and Central African populations and a group encompassing East and Southern African populations. The former is currently assigned to two to three subspecies (S. c. nanus, S. c. brachyceros, S. c. aequinoctialis) and the latter to a separate subspecies (S. c. caffer). 42% of the total amount of genetic diversity is explained by the between-lineage component, with one to seventeen female migrants per generation inferred as consistent with the isolation-with-migration model. The divergence time was estimated to have occurred during the late to middle Pleistocene, followed by a population expansion in both lineages, adapting morphologically to colonize new habitats, hence developing the variety of ecophenotypes observed today. At the regional scale, 8 populations distributed within these two lineages could be identified, resulting from more recent fragmentation processes. The two main lineages is a structuration that reflects common evolutionary responses to environmental changes within savanna mammals and can be observed within almost all species with a large distribution pattern as for example the waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus), the hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus), or the roan (Hippotragus equinus).