Abstract
The Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus) is an endangered species in Southeast Asia (SEA). Over the years, there has only been a few reports on its population genetic structure and evolutionary history in SEA. In particular, while the captive Malayan tapir population in Thailand has received fairly more research in recent years, there has not been any wide-scale population genetic study in the Malay Peninsula since the last decade. In this study, we report on the genetic diversity and attempt to make inferences on the phylogeography of the Malayan tapir in the Malay Peninsula, using the mitochondrial DNA control region, including also data from previous studies. We identified 12 novel haplotypes and two distinct Malayan tapir clades with a divergence time of 14.6 million years ago (mya) in the Peninsular Malaysia (i.e. southern Malay Peninsula) samples, as opposed to only one clade found in the Thai (i.e. Thailand western border and northern Malay Peninsula) captive individuals, with an almost two-fold higher nucleotide diversity compared to the latter. The co-occurrence of the two lineages in southern Malay Peninsula suggested past historical events of population isolation, migration and admixture as a result of episodic glacial periods and paleoenvironmental changes in SEA. Only one haplotype shared between the populations of the two regions suggested further gene flow restriction at the narrow corridor of the Malay Peninsula as of present day.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available in GenBank (MT519685-MT519728) and in this published article and its supplementary information file. Additional information is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This project was supported by the Ministry of Education Malaysia’s Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS); project code: FRGS/1/2014/SG03/UPM/02/8); project vote no: 5524552, and Malaysian Nature Society Tapir Project Grant awarded to Geetha Annavi. We would like to thank Donny Yawah (PERHILITAN), Mat Naim Bin Haji Ramli (National Zoo of Malaysia) and Kavitha Jayaseelan (National Zoo of Malaysia) for their assistance in collecting blood samples at the Sungai Dusun WCC and the National Zoo of Malaysia respectively. We also thank Mdm Noor Azleen binti Mohd Kulaimi (PERHILITAN) for aiding in the collection of tapir samples from the NWFL, PERHILITAN. We would also like to thank the staff from PERHILITAN, National Zoo of Malaysia and Sungai Dusun WCC for providing information on the Malayan tapir samples. All scientific activities were conducted under the permit from PERHILITAN (permit ref. NRE 600-2/2/21 JILID 2(42)). All the sampling procedures for the whole blood samples were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Universiti Putra Malaysia (ethical approval ref.: UPM/IACUC/AUP-R033/2016). All methods were performed in accordance with the Universiti Putra Malaysia Code of Practice for the Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes.
Funding
This study was supported by the Malaysian Ministry of Education’s Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) (Project Code: FRGS/1/2014/SG03/UPM/02/8; Project Vote No. 5524552), and Malaysian Nature Society Tapir Project Grant awarded to Geetha Annavi.
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All the sampling procedures for the whole blood samples were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, Universiti Putra Malaysia (Ethical Approval Ref.: UPM/IACUC/AUP-R033/2016). All methods were performed in accordance with the Universiti Putra Malaysia Code of Practice for the Care and Use of Animals for Scientific Purposes.
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Lim, Q.L., Yong, C.S.Y., Ng, W.L. et al. Genetic diversity and phylogenetic relationships of Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus) populations in the Malay Peninsula based on mitochondrial DNA control region. Biodivers Conserv 30, 2433–2449 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02202-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02202-x