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Development of genetic structure in a heterogeneous landscape over a short time frame: the reintroduced Asiatic wild ass

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Abstract

Understanding the dynamics of genetic structures which arise during a population’s range expansion can be applied to the conservation of recovering species and species that are shifting their range. Theoretical models, supported by several empirical findings, have indicated that fine-scaled genetic structure can arise at the wave front of a spatially expanding population. We explored the development of population genetic structure in the reintroduced Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus) in Israel, four generations after the onset of reintroduction, during which the population experienced demographic growth and range expansion over a complex landscape. Blood samples of the ‘founding-population’ and fecal samples of the ‘wild-population’, collected throughout the range of distribution were analyzed using mtDNA markers. Fecal samples were delimitated to ‘subpopulations’ according to their geographical locations. The “East” subpopulation, at the wave front of the wild population’s distribution, was found to be significantly different than the rest of the population (AMOVA, ΦST = 0.13, P = 0.04). These findings were supported by an FST-test, Spatial-AMOVA and a Barrier analysis. The “East” region is characterized by high quality habitat patches and low landscape connectivity to the rest of the area, which possibly led to its relative isolation. The “East” subpopulation was probably initiated following a founder-effect of dispersers from the release area, which remained in the ‘new area’, due to its high habitat quality. This genetic structure, though it might diminish over time due to gene flow and additional range expansion, has the potential of facilitating adaptive evolution and thereby affecting the population’s long term persistence.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Oded Nezer, Edith Speyer, Sharon Renan, Naama Shahar, Amos Bouskila, Gili Greenbaum, Tali Brunner, Alejandro Centeno-Cuadros, David Saltz, Yaron Ziv and Gal Vine for their valuable contributions to this study. This research was supported by the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation grant 2009296 awarded to S. Bar-David and A.R. Templeton and by the Israel Nature and Park Authority. TG was supported by a scholarship from the Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies, the Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. This is publication 837 of the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology.

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  1. Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 84990, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, Israel

    Tomer Gueta & Shirli Bar-David

  2. Department of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA

    Alan R. Templeton

  3. Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Ecology, University of Haifa, 31905, Haifa, Israel

    Alan R. Templeton

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  1. Tomer Gueta
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Correspondence to Tomer Gueta.

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Gueta, T., Templeton, A.R. & Bar-David, S. Development of genetic structure in a heterogeneous landscape over a short time frame: the reintroduced Asiatic wild ass. Conserv Genet 15, 1231–1242 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-014-0614-z

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