CRB: North American Bison as a Model for the Conservation of Megavertebrate Populations

9622126 Derr在世界范围内，许多大型脊椎动物物种已经或即将遇到类似于上个世纪野牛所发生的种群挑战。其中许多物种，如野牛，是一夫多妻制的，现在仅限于高度分散和管理的生态系统。本研究将调查北美野牛种群在上世纪人类引起的种群瓶颈之前和之后的遗传多样性。在过去的100年里，人口规模已经恢复。这一恢复努力的主要创始人只来自五个牧群，四个来自北方牧群，一个来自南方牧群。这项研究的目的是测试的保护问题，相对较低水平的遗传多态性在现存的人口是一个直接的结果，世纪的瓶颈，保护工作应针对最大限度地提高剩余的遗传变异畜群。为了验证这一假设，聚合酶链反应和核苷酸测序将被用来检查现存和历史（瓶颈前）人口的线粒体和核基因组的遗传多样性。历史人口数据将从现有的大量化石材料中得出。 由于保护和恢复工作已被证明是如此成功的野牛，他们提供了一个理想的模型系统，以制定管理计划的遗传效应的人口瓶颈和栖息地破碎的其他巨型脊椎动物物种。这项研究将对种群恢复遗传多样性的能力以及大型脊椎动物最小生存种群规模的问题产生直接影响。

9622126 Derr Worldwide, many species of large vertebrates have, or soon will, encounter population challenges similar to what occurred in the last century with bison. Many of these species, like bison, are polygynous and now are limited to highly fragmented and managed ecosystems. This research will investigate genetic diversity in North American bison populations before and after the human induced population bottleneck of the last century. In the last 100 years, population sizes have recovered. The primary founders for this restoration effort have come from only five herds, four from the northern herd, and one from the southern herd. This research is designed to test the conservation question that relatively low levels of genetic polymorphisms in extant populations are a direct result of the 19th Century bottleneck and that conservation efforts should be directed at maximizing the remaining genetic variation among herds. To test this hypothesis, polymerase chain reaction and nucleotide sequencing will be used to examine genetic diversity in both mitochondrial and nuclear genomes of extant and historical (pre-bottleneck) populations. Historical population data will be derived from the extensive fossil materials available. Because conservation and restoration efforts have proved so successful with bison, they provide an ideal model system to develop management plans for the genetic effects of population bottlenecks and habitat fragmentation for other megavertebrate species. This study will have direct bearing on the ability of populations to regain genetic diversity, and on issues regarding minimum viable population size of large vertebrates.