Splitting or lumping? A conservation dilemma exemplified by the critically endangered dama gazelle (Nanger dama).

ABSTRACT: Managers of threatened species often face the dilemma of whether to keep populations separate to conserve local adaptations and minimize the risk of outbreeding, or whether to manage populations jointly to reduce loss of genetic diversity and minimise inbreeding. In this study we examine genetic relatedness and diversity in three of the five last remaining wild populations of dama gazelle and a number of captive populations, using mtDNA control region and cytochrome b data. Despite the sampled populations belonging to the three putative subspecies, which are delineated according to phenotypes and geographical location, we find limited evidence for phylogeographical structure within the data and no genetic support for the putative subspecies. In the light of these data we discuss the releva

SUBMITTER: Senn H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4067283 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature