Genetic assessment of a bighorn sheep population expansion in the Silver Bell Mountains, Arizona.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The isolated population of desert bighorn sheep in the Silver Bell Mountains of southern Arizona underwent an unprecedented expansion in merely four years. We hypothesized that immigration from neighboring bighorn sheep populations could have caused the increase in numbers as detected by Arizona Game and Fish Department annual aerial counts.

Methods

We applied a multilocus genetic approach using mitochondrial DNA and nuclear microsatellite markers for genetic analyses to find evidence of immigration. We sampled the Silver Bell Mountains bighorn sheep before (2003) and during (2015) the population expansion, and a small number of available samples from the Gila Mountains (southwestern Arizona) and the Morenci Mine (Rocky Mountain bighorn) in an attempt to identify

SUBMITTER: Erwin JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6276589 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature