Heavily male-biased long-distance dispersal of orang-utans (genus:Pongo), as revealed by Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial genetic markers

Nietlisbach, Pirmin, Arora, Natasha, Nater, Alexander, Goossens, Benoit ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2360-4643, Van Schaik, Carel P. and Krutzen, Michael 2012. Heavily male-biased long-distance dispersal of orang-utans (genus:Pongo), as revealed by Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial genetic markers. Molecular Ecology 21 (13) , pp. 3173-3186. 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05539.x

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

Mating systems are thought to be an important determinant of dispersal strategies in most animals, including the great apes. As the most basal taxon of all great apes, orang-utans can provide information about the evolution of mating systems and their consequences for population structure in this Family. To assess the sex-specific population structure in orang-utans, we used a combination of paternally transmitted Y-chromosomal genetic markers and maternally transmitted mitochondrial DNA sequences. Markers transmitted through the more philopatric sex are expected to show stronger differentiation among populations than the ones transmitted through the dispersing sex. We studied these patterns using 70 genetic samples from wild orang-utans from seven Bornean and two Sumatran populations. We found pronounced population structure in haplotype networks of mitochondrial sequence data, but much less so for male-specific markers. Similarly, mitochondrial genetic differentiation was twice as high among populations compared to Y-chromosomal variation. We also found that genetic distance increased faster with geographic distance for mitochondrial than for Y-linked markers, leading to estimates of male dispersal distances that are several-fold higher than those of females. These findings provide evidence for strong male-biased dispersal in orang-utans. The transition to predominantly female-biased dispersal in the great ape lineage appears to be correlated with life in multimale groups and may reflect the associated fitness benefits of reliable male coalitions with relatives or known partners, a feature that is absent in orang-utans.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences
Subjects:	Q Science > Q Science (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Conservation; great apes; isolation by distance; male-specific markers; orang-utan; sex-biased dispersal.
Publisher:	Blackwell Publishing
ISSN:	0962-1083
Last Modified:	27 Oct 2022 08:43
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/63202

Citation Data

Cited 51 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item