POPULATION GENOMICS AND THE VIABILITY OF THE ENDANGERED SANJE MANGABEY (CERCOCEBUS SANJEI)IN THE UDZUNGWA MOUNTAINS, TANZANIA

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This PhD project will examine the population genomic diversity and structure of the endangered Sanje mangabeyfor the first time, use the data produced to parameterise models for population viability analysis and contributeto a management plan for this endangered and highly localised primate. As an iCASE award, the student will bebased at Cardiff University, in the Organisms and Environment Division of the School of Biosciences, and at BristolZoo Gardens, Conservation Science and Research group (BZG), which the non-academic supervisor, Dr GrainneMcCabe has recently joined to head up.This will be a truly multidisciplinary project, using core science to inform and facilitate the development of anational and regional biodiversity action plan for an increasingly threatened group of flagship taxa for eastAfrica's remaining forested areas. The project involves innovative use of population genomics (genomic host DNAcapture from fecal material), including bioinformatics analysis of genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphismdata to elucidate population-level genomic diversity and differentiation between the last two populations ofSanje mangabeys in Tanzania. The application of genomics to conservation has recently received a lot ofattention (eg Shafer et al 2015, TREE 30: 78), in which the academic supervisor as co-Chair of the recentlyestablished IUCN specialist group in Conservation Genetics, has been active.The proposed studentship will therefore act as a model in which genome-wide diversity (as opposed to DNAprofiling using a handful of genetic markers) will be applied to conservation prioritisation, and the student will bebased in a laboratory internationally recognised to be leading in this area of research. In addition to the genomicsanalysis, the project will use both genetic and demographic data to carry out a population viability assessment(PVA) for the species with the aim of proposing targeted conservation actions.The student will be embedded within BZG's Tanzania program and will be not only carrying out much of the fieldwork associated with the project but will also, in collaboration with the non-academic supervisor, help developboth a species-specific and region-wide conservation management plan for forest primates in the region. This willprovide highly relevant skills for future application within a conservation context.