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为期3至24个月的研究。该项目的奖项提供了联合研究的机会，以及利用国外独特或互补的设施、专业知识和实验条件的机会。该奖项将支持乔治·维特梅尔博士与乌干达Makerere大学的Silvester Nyakaana博士和丹麦哥本哈根大学的Hans Siegismund博士合作的为期22个月的研究奖学金。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，包括人类大象冲突、象牙偷猎和越来越多的栖息地限制，这些问题需要各种管理解决方案，如易位、围栏和加强治安。该项目提供了有关自由放养大象种群的精细遗传结构的详细信息，为管理人员和自然资源保护者处理当今大象面临的各种问题提供了必要的信息。这项研究基于七年的个体联合行为的详细记录，三年的全球定位系统无线电跟踪数据，以及来自分析400个个体的20个微卫星座位的遗传数据，以提供关于(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)可变的生态条件(季节性)对分层裂变-融合社会结构和临时群体遗传结构的影响的信息。PIS将推进关于社会结构的形成和功能的理论研究，并提供关于连续种群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大学环境和自然资源研究所野生动物遗传学小组的负责人，Makerere大学环境和自然资源研究所是非洲领先的生态小组之一。西吉斯蒙德博士是国际公认的人口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.