Nucleotide polymorphism, effective population size, and dispersal distances in the yellow baboons (Papio hamadryas cynocephalus) of Mikumi National Park, Tanzania

✍ Scribed by Jeffrey Rogers; Kenneth K. Kidd

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 837 KB
• Volume: 38
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0275-2565
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2345(1996)38:2<157::aid-ajp4>3.0.co;2-y

✦ Synopsis

We investigated genetic variability and population structure in a natural population of yellow baboons (Papio hamadryas cynocephalus) from Mikumi National Park, Tanzania. The amount of nuclear DNA polymorphism in a random sample of animals from four social groups was estimated by using Southern blotting to detect restriction fragment length polymorphisms in five nuclear autosomal loci. The average nucleotide heterozygosity was estimated to be 0.0033. This level of DNA polymorphism is higher than available estimates for human populations, but is consistent with protein and DNA sequence data from other nonhuman primates. The observed level of genetic variability suggests that the inbreeding effective population size of the Mikumi baboons is approximately 14,000. Predictions regarding the distribution of male dispersal distance are developed using Wright's isolation by distance model. The results of these analyses, while derived from genetic methods, are consistent with and provide additional information for behavioral and demographic descriptions of baboon population dynamics.