Conservation Genetics Of The Elliot's Pheasant (Syrmaticus Ellioti)

Elliot' s Pheasant, Syrmaticus ellioti, is endemic to China and regarded as 'Vulnerable' in the 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.Its population size is believed to be declining because of ongoing habitat loss and hunting. In this study, the genetic diversity and genetic structure were analysis among five wild population and a captive population using mitochondrial DNA. Furthermore, polymorphic microsatellite loci were characterized as another genetic markers for further study.1. It was indicated that the general genetic diversity of wild population of Elliot' s Pheasant was of higher level as shown by the following parameters: the mean value of haplotype diversity (h) was 0.992, the nean value of nucleotide diversity (Ï€) was 0. 00616, while the nucleotide pairwise divergence range was from 0.0 to 1.5 (%).2. We studied the genetic structure among five populations of Syrmaticus ellioti, sampled respectively from Anhui(AH), Zhejiang(ZJ), Fujian(FJ), Hunan(HN), Guizhou(GZ) provinces using 33 mitochondrial control region sequences. A very little genetic structure among populations was revealed which was mostly due to the effect of the GZ population in the west of China. It was assumed that the GZ population was differentiating. Thus, a management unit (MU) was suggested for the western GZ population. Since the genetic structure was a historic accumulative process, attention should be paied on Nature Reserves ' constructing and developing in other regions to reduce or minimum negative effect due to human actions.3. A litter level of genetic diversity was found in a captive population in Ninbo Zoo, which was attributed to low number of founders. Three control region haplotypes (Ha, Hb, Hc) were identified by six variable nucleotide positions among the control region sequences over 36 individuals. The numberof haplotypes was accorded with the number of female founders o However, large discrepancy in the distribution of the three haplotypes was discovered., It seemed to be presumably linked to human interference in the captive breeding such as ignoring genetic data and focusing attention on few individuals possessing good reproductive ability,, Enlightened by its character of maternal heredity in vertebrates, we used control region sequence as a matrilineage marker for the zoo population. Those individuals shared the same haplotype were offspring from one female founder,. In other words, there were three maternal lineages and the simple relationship among individuals was indicated,, It was concluded that genetic management was very important in captive breeding.4. Ten microsatellite loci were isolated from Elliot' s Pheasant using enrichment modified protocol with streptavidincoated beads ? Their characteristics were expected to be tested further for more specimens., These species-specific microsatellite loci would be other useful genetic markers to assess population genetic studies of Elliot' s pheasant.