Dataset Information

Asian elephants in China: estimating population size and evaluating habitat suitability.

ABSTRACT: We monitored the last remaining Asian elephant populations in China over the past decade. Using DNA tools and repeat genotyping, we estimated the population sizes from 654 dung samples collected from various areas. Combined with morphological individual identifications from over 6,300 elephant photographs taken in the wild, we estimated that the total Asian elephant population size in China is between 221 and 245. Population genetic structure and diversity were examined using a 556-bp fragment of mitochondrial DNA, and 24 unique haplotypes were detected from DNA analysis of 178 individuals. A phylogenetic analysis revealed two highly divergent clades of Asian elephants, ? and ?, present in Chinese populations. Four populations (Mengla, Shangyong, Mengyang, and Pu'Er) carried mtDNA from the ? clade, and only one population (Nangunhe) carried mtDNA belonging to the ? clade. Moreover, high genetic divergence was observed between the Nangunhe population and the other four populations; however, genetic diversity among the five populations was low, possibly due to limited gene flow because of habitat fragmentation. The expansion of rubber plantations, crop cultivation, and villages along rivers and roads had caused extensive degradation of natural forest in these areas. This had resulted in the loss and fragmentation of elephant habitats and had formed artificial barriers that inhibited elephant migration. Using Geographic Information System, Global Positioning System, and Remote Sensing technology, we found that the area occupied by rubber plantations, tea farms, and urban settlements had dramatically increased over the past 40 years, resulting in the loss and fragmentation of elephant habitats and forming artificial barriers that inhibit elephant migration. The restoration of ecological corridors to facilitate gene exchange among isolated elephant populations and the establishment of cross-boundary protected areas between China and Laos to secure their natural habitats are critical for the survival of Asian elephants in this region.

SUBMITTER: Zhang L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4438002 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Asian elephants in China: estimating population size and evaluating habitat suitability.

Zhang Li L Dong Lu L Lin Liu L Feng Limin L Yan Fan F Wang Lanxin L Guo Xianming X Luo Aidong A

PloS one 20150519 5

We monitored the last remaining Asian elephant populations in China over the past decade. Using DNA tools and repeat genotyping, we estimated the population sizes from 654 dung samples collected from various areas. Combined with morphological individual identifications from over 6,300 elephant photographs taken in the wild, we estimated that the total Asian elephant population size in China is between 221 and 245. Population genetic structure and diversity were examined using a 556-bp fragment o ...[more]

PMID: 25992617

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Project description:Knowledge about the population size and trends of common bird species is crucial for setting conservation priorities and management actions. Multi-species large-scale monitoring schemes have often provided such estimates relying on extrapolation of relative abundances in particular habitats to large-scale areas. Here we show an alternative to inference-rich predictive models, proposing methods to deal with caveats of population size estimations in habitat-specialist species, reed warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus and Acrocephalus arundinaceus). Reed warblers were only found in pure reedbeds within riparian woodlands or in riparian vegetation scattered within or around reedbed patches, as expected according to their habitat specialization. The proportion of individuals located in reedbed associated with lotic and lentic waters differed between species, and no reed warbler was recorded in reedbed located along dry streams. This indicates that microhabitat features or their effects on reedbed structure and other factors made a proportion of the apparently available habitat unsuitable for both warbler species. Most warblers detected were males performing territorial singing (females seldom sing and do not perform elaborate territorial song, and are undistinguishable from males by plumage). The regional population sizes of the warbler species (~4000 individuals of A. scirpaceus and ~ 1000 individuals of A. arundinaceus) were much smaller than those estimated for the same area by transforming relative abundance obtained at a national scale to population size through extrapolation by habitat at a regional scale. These results highlight the importance of considering the habitat actually used and its suitability, the manner of sex-related detection, population sex-ratio and their interactions in population estimates. Ideally, the value of predictive methods to estimate population size of common species should be tested before conducting large-scale monitoring, rather than a posteriori. Although logistically challenging, this can be achieved by designing monitoring programs including an intensive sampling of abundance in ad hoc reference areas of variable size.

Dataset Information

Asian elephants in China: estimating population size and evaluating habitat suitability.

Publications

Asian elephants in China: estimating population size and evaluating habitat suitability.

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