Salmona J., Dayon J., Lecompte E., Karamanlidis A. A., Aguilar A., de Larrinoa P. F., Pires R., Mo G. L., Panou A., Agnesi S., Borrell A., Danyer E., Oeztuerk B., Tonay A. M., Anestis A. K., Gonzalez L. M., Dendrinos P., Gaubert Philippe. (2022). The antique genetic plight of the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus). Proceedings of the Royal Society B : Biological Sciences, 289 (1981), 20220846 [10 p.]. ISSN 0962-8452.
Titre du document
The antique genetic plight of the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus)
Année de publication
2022
Auteurs
Salmona J., Dayon J., Lecompte E., Karamanlidis A. A., Aguilar A., de Larrinoa P. F., Pires R., Mo G. L., Panou A., Agnesi S., Borrell A., Danyer E., Oeztuerk B., Tonay A. M., Anestis A. K., Gonzalez L. M., Dendrinos P., Gaubert Philippe
Source
Proceedings of the Royal Society B : Biological Sciences, 2022,
289 (1981), 20220846 [10 p.] ISSN 0962-8452
Disentangling the impact of Late Quaternary climate change from human activities can have crucial implications on the conservation of endangered species. We investigated the population genetics and demography of the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus), one of the world's most endangered marine mammals, through an unprecedented dataset encompassing historical (extinct) and extant populations from the eastern North Atlantic to the entire Mediterranean Basin. We show that Cabo Blanco (Western Sahara/Mauritania), Madeira, Western Mediterranean (historical range) and Eastern Mediterranean regions segregate into four populations. This structure is probably the consequence of recent drift, combined with long-term isolation by distance (R-2 = 0.7), resulting from prevailing short-distance (less than 500 km) and infrequent long-distance dispersal (less than 1500 km). All populations (Madeira especially), show high levels of inbreeding and low levels of genetic diversity, seemingly declining since historical time, but surprisingly not being impacted by the 1997 massive die-off in Cabo Blanco. Approximate Bayesian Computation analyses support scenarios combining local extinctions and a major effective population size decline in all populations during Antiquity. Our results suggest that the early densification of human populations around the Mediterranean Basin coupled with the development of seafaring techniques were the main drivers of the decline of Mediterranean monk seals.
Plan de classement
Sciences fondamentales / Techniques d'analyse et de recherche [020]
;
Sciences du milieu [021]
;
Limnologie biologique / Océanographie biologique [034]
Description Géographique
MEDITERRANEE ; ATLANTIQUE
Localisation
Fonds IRD [F B010086038]
Identifiant IRD
fdi:010086038
