Genetic Diversity and Structure among Isolated Populations of the Endangered Gees Golden Langur in Assam, India

PLoS One. 2016 Aug 26;11(8):e0161866. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0161866. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Gee's golden langur (Trachypithecus geei) is an endangered colobine primate, endemic to the semi-evergreen and mixed-deciduous forests of Indo-Bhutan border. During the last few decades, extensive fragmentation has caused severe population decline and local extinction of golden langur from several fragments. However, no studies are available on the impact of habitat fragmentation and the genetic diversity of golden langur in the fragmented habitats. The present study aimed to estimate the genetic diversity in the Indian population of golden langur. We sequenced and analyzed around 500 bases of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) hypervariable region-I from 59 fecal samples of wild langur collected from nine forest fragments. Overall, genetic diversity was high (h = 0.934, π = 0.0244) and comparable with other colobines. Populations in smaller fragments showed lower nucleotide diversity compared to the larger forest fragments. The median-joining network of haplotypes revealed a genetic structure that corresponded with the geographical distribution. The Aie and Champabati Rivers were found to be a barrier to gene flow between golden langur populations. In addition, it also established that T. geei is monophyletic but revealed possible hybridization with capped langur, T. pileatus, in the wild. It is hoped that these findings would result in a more scientific approach towards managing the fragmented populations of this enigmatic species.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cercopithecidae / classification
  • Cercopithecidae / genetics*
  • Conservation of Natural Resources
  • DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics
  • Ecosystem
  • Endangered Species
  • Genetic Variation / genetics*
  • Haplotypes / genetics
  • India

Substances

  • DNA, Mitochondrial

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, Science and Engineering Research Board, grant # SR/SO/ AS - 17/2012 to JB. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.