Rhinoceroses are arguably the most endangered of all large mammal taxa. In order for ongoing conservation of this species to be successful, it is crucial to accurately characterize the remaining genetic diversity for all rhinoceros species.
To do this, I optimized a standard suite of 24 taxon-specific rhinoceros microsatellite loci. These loci have the power to provide the most comprehensive estimate of comparative microsatellite genetic diversity within and among the four extant African and Asian rhinoceros genera.
These loci were further used to evaluate the comparative influences of rhinoceros species versus microsatellite taxonomic origin as predictors of rhino microsatellite diversity, and finally to examine the evolutionary relationships between extant rhino taxa.
The African black michaeli rhino subspecies had the highest level of microsatellite genetic variability of all available rhinos, while southern white and Indian rhinos were the least variable rhinos. These findings also suggested that species and taxonomic origin of microsatellite loci were both significant predictors of microsatellite heterozygosity in rhinoceroses.
A weak association between the Sumatran and black rhinos was found with a DLR neighbour-joining tree.
The standard loci were able to assign unique genotypes to all available rhinos as well as differentiate between all rhino species by correctly assigning individual rhinos back to their respective populations. / Thesis (Master, Biology) -- Queen's University, 2008-07-02 23:01:32.553
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OKQ.1974/1299 |
| Date | 08 July 2008 |
| Creators | Scott, Candace A. |
| Contributors | Queen's University (Kingston, Ont.). Theses (Queen's University (Kingston, Ont.)) |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 2886507 bytes, application/pdf |
| Rights | This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner. |
| Relation | Canadian theses |
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