School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
Mol Ecol. 2010 Mar;19(5):886-97. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2010.04539.x. Epub 2010 Feb 8.
Many alpine species are under threat from global climate change, as their geographic ranges become increasingly fragmented and unsuitable. Understanding rates and determinants of gene flow among such fragmented populations, over historical as well as recent timescales, can help to identify populations under threat. It is also important to clarify the degree to which loss of local populations reduces overall genetic diversity within the taxon. The endangered Blue Mountains Water Skink (Eulamprus leuraensis) is restricted to <40 small swamps in montane south-eastern Australia. Our analyses of seven microsatellite loci of 241 animals from 13 populations show strong geographic structure, with major genetic divergence even between populations separated by <0.5 km. Dispersal between populations is scarce, and appears to involve mostly males. Our analyses suggest potential recent bottleneck events in all the identified populations, and lower genetic diversity and population size parameter at lower-elevation sites than at higher-elevation sites. Management of this endangered taxon thus needs to treat most populations separately, because of their genetic distinctiveness and low rates of genetic exchange.
许多高山物种受到全球气候变化的威胁，因为它们的地理范围变得越来越分散，不适合生存。了解这些碎片化种群在历史和近期时间尺度上的基因流动率和决定因素，可以帮助识别受到威胁的种群。同样重要的是，要明确当地种群的丧失在多大程度上降低了分类单元内的整体遗传多样性。濒危的蓝山水蜥（Eulamprus leuraensis）仅分布在澳大利亚东南部山区的 <40 个小沼泽中。我们对来自 13 个种群的 241 只动物的 7 个微卫星基因座进行了分析，结果显示出强烈的地理结构，即使在相距 <0.5 公里的种群之间也存在明显的遗传分化。种群之间的扩散很少，而且似乎主要涉及雄性。我们的分析表明，所有确定的种群都可能发生了近期的瓶颈事件，并且在低海拔地区的遗传多样性和种群规模参数都低于高海拔地区。因此，由于这些濒危分类单元具有遗传独特性和遗传交换率低，管理上需要将大多数种群分开对待。
