Dissertation Research: Evolutionary Genetics of Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in Nigeria and Cameroon

有两种常见的非洲森林黑猩猩，一种是“普通”黑猩猩，另一种是侏儒黑猩猩，或称矮黑猩猩。生物学家和人类学家传统上认为泛穴居人有三个不同的亚种。然而，一名飞行员在尼日利亚进行了实地考察，并在实验室进行了线粒体DNA分析，结果显示，可能存在四个泛轮虫亚种，这些亚种之间的分布和关系与通常所描绘的不同。这项拟议的研究旨在通过从西非黑猩猩的睡巢中收集更广泛的野外毛发，以及通过在实验室分析更广泛的线粒体和核基因，来扩大先导研究的范围。研究结果将与其他非洲森林灵长类动物的分布和进化关系的信息进行比较，目的是重建我们近亲的进化史更清晰的图景。这一结果也将与保护工作密切相关。黑猩猩正变得越来越濒危，在制定保护它们的计划时，适当关注遗传差异的种群是至关重要的。

Two species of African forest chimpanzees are commonly recognized, the `common` chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and the pygmy chimpanzee, or bonobo (Pan paniscus). Biologists and anthropologists have traditionally regarded Pan troglodytes as having three distinct subspecies. However, a pilot involving field work in Nigeria and mitochondrial DNA analysis in the laboratory, has revealed that there may be four Pan troglodytes subspecies, and that the distribution and relationships among these subspecies are different than what is usually portrayed. This proposed research aims to extend the pilot study both by making much more extensive field collections of hairs from the sleeping nests of West African chimpanzees, and by analyzing a much wider range of mitochondrial and nuclear genes in the laboratory. The results of the research will be compared with information on the distribution and evolutionary relationships of other African forest primates with the goal of reconstructing a clearer picture of the evolutionary history of our closest relatives. The results will also be of great relevance to conservation. Chimpanzees are becoming increasingly endangered, and in planning for their conservation it is vital that genetically distinct populations are given proper attention.