@article{fdi:010084291,
  title = {{C}an {DNA} help trace the local trade of pangolins ? {C}onservation genetics of white-bellied pangolins from the {D}ahomey {G}ap ({W}est {A}frica)},
  author = {{Z}anvo, {S}. and {D}jagoun, {C}ams and {A}zihou, {A}. {F}. and {D}jossa, {B}. and {A}fiademanyo, {K}. and {O}layemi, {A}. and {A}gbangla, {C}. and {S}insin, {B}. and {G}aubert, {P}hilippe},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{B}ackground {A}frican pangolins are currently experiencing unprecedented levels of harvesting, feeding both local demands and the illegal international trade. {S}o far, the lack of knowledge on the population genetics of {A}frican pangolins has hampered any attempts at assessing their demographic status and tracing their trade at the local scale. {W}e conducted a pioneer study on the genetic tracing of the {A}frican pangolin trade in the {D}ahomey {G}ap ({DG}). {W}e sequenced and genotyped 189 white-bellied pangolins from 18 forests and 12 wildlife markets using one mitochondrial fragment and 20 microsatellite loci. {R}esults {T}ree-based assignment procedure showed that the pangolin trade is endemic to the {DG} region, as it was strictly fed by the the {D}ahomey {G}ap lineage ({DGL}). {DGL} populations were characterized by low levels of genetic diversity, an overall absence of equilibrium, important inbreeding levels, and lack of geographic structure. {W}e identified a 92-98% decline in {DGL} effective population size 200-500 ya-concomitant with major political transformations along the '{S}lave {C}oast'-leading to contemporaneous estimates being inferior to minimum viable population size (< 500). {G}enetic tracing suggested that wildlife markets from the {DG} sourced pangolins through the entire {DGL} range. {O}ur loci provided the necessary power to distinguish among all the genotyped pangolins, tracing the dispatch of a same individual on the markets and within local communities. {W}e developed an approach combining rarefaction analysis of private allele frequencies with cross-validation of observed data that traced five traded pangolins to their forest origin, c. 200-300 km away from the markets. {C}onclusions {A}lthough the genetic toolkit that we designed from traditional markers can prove helpful to trace the illegal trade in pangolins, our tracing ability was limited by the lack of population structure within the {DGL}. {G}iven the deleterious combination of genetic, demographic, and trade-related factors affecting {DGL} populations, the conservation status of white-bellied pangolins in the {DG} should be urgently re-evaluated.},
  keywords = {{M}icrosatellites ; {C}onservation genetics ; {D}emographic decline ; {T}rade tracing ; {W}hite-bellied pangolin ; {D}ahomey {G}ap ; {AFRIQUE} {DE} {L}'{OUEST} ; {BENIN} ; {TOGO} ; {NIGERIA} ; {ZONE} {TROPICALE} ; {COULOIR} {DAHOMEEN}},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{BMC} {E}cology and {E}volution},
  volume = {22},
  numero = {1},
  pages = {16 [14 p.]},
  year = {2022},
  DOI = {10.1186/s12862-022-01971-5},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010084291},
}