Range-Wide Snow Leopard Phylogeography Supports Three Subspecies

Jan E Janecka; Yuguang Zhang; Diqiang Li; Bariushaa Munkhtsog; Munkhtsog Bayaraa; Naranbaatar Galsandorj; Tshewang R Wangchuk; Dibesh Karmacharya; Juan Li; Zhi Lu; Kubanychbek Zhumabai Uulu; Ajay Gaur; Satish Kumar; Kesav Kumar; Shafqat Hussain; Ghulam Muhammad; Matthew Jevit; Charlotte Hacker; Pamela Burger; Claudia Wultsch; Mary J Janecka; Kristofer Helgen; William J Murphy; Rodney Jackson

doi:10.1093/jhered/esx044

Range-Wide Snow Leopard Phylogeography Supports Three Subspecies

J Hered. 2017 Sep 1;108(6):597-607. doi: 10.1093/jhered/esx044.

Authors

Jan E Janecka¹, Yuguang Zhang¹, Diqiang Li¹, Bariushaa Munkhtsog¹, Munkhtsog Bayaraa¹, Naranbaatar Galsandorj¹, Tshewang R Wangchuk¹, Dibesh Karmacharya¹, Juan Li¹, Zhi Lu¹, Kubanychbek Zhumabai Uulu¹, Ajay Gaur¹, Satish Kumar¹, Kesav Kumar¹, Shafqat Hussain¹, Ghulam Muhammad¹, Matthew Jevit¹, Charlotte Hacker¹, Pamela Burger¹, Claudia Wultsch¹, Mary J Janecka¹, Kristofer Helgen¹, William J Murphy¹, Rodney Jackson¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA 15282; Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China; The Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment of State Forestry Administration, Beijing, China; Institute of General and Experimental Biology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Irbis Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; Bhutan Foundation, Washington, DC; Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, Missoula, MT; Center for Molecular Dynamics, Kathmandu, Nepal; Panthera, New York, NY; Center for Nature and Society, College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China; Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA; Shan Shui Conservation Center, Beijing, China; Snow Leopard Trust, Seattle, WA; Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India; Trinity College, Hartford, CT; Baltistan Wildlife Conservation and Development Organization, Skardu, Pakistan; Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX; Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, Vienna, Austria; American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY; Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX; University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia; and Snow Leopard Conservancy, Sonoma, CA 95476.

PMID: 28498961
DOI: 10.1093/jhered/esx044

Abstract

The snow leopard, Panthera uncia, is an elusive high-altitude specialist that inhabits vast, inaccessible habitat across Asia. We conducted the first range-wide genetic assessment of snow leopards based on noninvasive scat surveys. Thirty-three microsatellites were genotyped and a total of 683 bp of mitochondrial DNA sequenced in 70 individuals. Snow leopards exhibited low genetic diversity at microsatellites (AN = 5.8, HO = 0.433, HE = 0.568), virtually no mtDNA variation, and underwent a bottleneck in the Holocene (∼8000 years ago) coinciding with increased temperatures, precipitation, and upward treeline shift in the Tibetan Plateau. Multiple analyses supported 3 primary genetic clusters: (1) Northern (the Altai region), (2) Central (core Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau), and (3) Western (Tian Shan, Pamir, trans-Himalaya regions). Accordingly, we recognize 3 subspecies, Panthera uncia irbis (Northern group), Panthera uncia uncia (Western group), and Panthera uncia uncioides (Central group) based upon genetic distinctness, low levels of admixture, unambiguous population assignment, and geographic separation. The patterns of variation were consistent with desert-basin "barrier effects" of the Gobi isolating the northern subspecies (Mongolia), and the trans-Himalaya dividing the central (Qinghai, Tibet, Bhutan, and Nepal) and western subspecies (India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan). Hierarchical Bayesian clustering analysis revealed additional subdivision into a minimum of 6 proposed management units: western Mongolia, southern Mongolia, Tian Shan, Pamir-Himalaya, Tibet-Himalaya, and Qinghai, with spatial autocorrelation suggesting potential connectivity by dispersing individuals up to ∼400 km. We provide a foundation for global conservation of snow leopard subspecies, and set the stage for in-depth landscape genetics and genomic studies.

Keywords: Asia; Panthera uncia; genetics; microsatellites; phylogeography; snow leopard; subspecies.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Asia
Bayes Theorem
Cluster Analysis
DNA, Mitochondrial / genetics
Genetic Speciation*
Genetic Variation*
Genetics, Population*
Microsatellite Repeats
Panthera / classification
Panthera / genetics*
Phylogeography
Sequence Analysis, DNA

Substances

DNA, Mitochondrial

Associated data

Dryad/10.5061/dryad.sb20c