International Research Fellowship Program: Fine-Scaled Genetic Structure of a Free Ranging Elephant Population

0502340Wittemyer国际研究奖学金计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行三到二十四个月的研究。 该计划的奖项提供了联合研究的机会，以及使用独特或互补的设施，专业知识和国外的实验条件。该奖项将支持为期22个月的研究奖学金由博士乔治维特梅尔与博士西尔维斯特Nyakaana，在马凯雷雷大学在乌干达，以及丹麦哥本哈根大学的汉斯·齐格斯蒙德博士。随着非洲一些地区大象数量的增加和其他地区大象数量的减少，野生动物当局面临着一系列保护问题，包括人象冲突、象牙偷猎和日益严重的栖息地限制，这些问题需要各种管理解决方案，如迁移、围栏和加强治安。 该项目提供了关于自由放养大象种群的精细遗传结构的详细信息，为管理人员和保护主义者处理当今大象面临的各种问题提供了所需的信息。 这项研究建立在七年的个人协会行为的详细记录，三年的G.P.S.无线电跟踪数据和来自20个微卫星基因座的遗传数据，分析了400个个体，以提供以下信息：（a）社会行为的遗传基础，（B）在单个连续群体内发生显著等位基因频率差异的空间分辨率，以及（c）可变生态条件（季节性）对分层裂变融合社会结构和时间群体遗传结构的影响。PIS将推进对社会结构的形成和功能的理论研究，并提供有关连续人口内发生的基因流动的空间分辨率和程度的信息。Nyakaana博士是Makerere大学环境与自然资源研究所野生动物遗传学小组的负责人，该研究所是非洲领先的生态学小组之一。 Siegismund博士是国际公认的群体遗传学定量分析方法专家。

0502340WittemyerThe International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will support a twenty-two-month research fellowship by Dr. George Wittemyer to work with Dr. Silvester Nyakaana, at Makerere University in Uganda, and with Dr. Hans Siegismund at Copenhagen University in Denmark.With elephant populations increasing in some parts of Africa and declining in others, wildlife authorities face a range of conservation issues including human elephant conflict, ivory poaching, and growing habitat confinement that demand a variety of management solutions such as translocation, fencing and increased policing. This project provides detailed information on fine-scaled genetic structuring of a free-ranging elephant population, offering needed information to managers and conservationists dealing with the variety of issues facing elephants today. This research builds on seven years of detailed records of individual association behavior, three years of G.P.S. radio tracking data, and genetic data from 20 microsatellite loci analyzed for 400 individuals to provide information on (a) the genetic basis for social behavior, (b) the spatial resolution where significant allele frequency differentiation occurs within a single contiguous population and (c) the affect of variable ecological conditions (seasonality) on hierarchical fission-fusion social structuring and temporal population genetic structuring. The PIS will advance theoretical research on the formation and function of social structure and provide information on the spatial resolution and degree of gene flow occurring within a contiguous population. Dr. Nyakaana is head of the Wildlife Genetics Group at Makerere University Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, one of the leading ecology groups in Africa. Dr. Siegismund is an internationally recognized expert on the quantitative analytical methods of population genetics.