Microsatellite genotypes from mandrills in Lopé National Park (Gabon)

Mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) are endemic to the tropical forests of
Central Africa and are threatened by habitat loss and hunting. Mandrills
exist in “hordes” that are some of the largest groups observed for
non-human primates, at times including close to one thousand individuals.
Yet the population dynamics and connectivity between hordes in the wild
remain poorly understood. This dataset includes microsatellite data from
biological samples, primarily feces, collected from three wild mandrill
hordes (SEGC, ECOFAC, and Mikongo) in Lopé National Park, Gabon. These
data were used to examine connectivity between the three hordes, in
particular male-biased dispersal, and to test for historical population
bottlenecks that may have occurred during past periods of environmental
change. Our findings show that these three hordes constitute an admixed
metapopulation with frequent dispersal between hordes that is likely
male-biased, although the lack of inter-horde genetic differentiation
limits estimation of migration rates. The effective population size of the
three hordes appears to be historically stable, with no evidence of past
population bottlenecks, despite mandrills’ recent declining numbers. This
dataset contains processed genotypes for an estimated 368 mandrills: 232
from the SEGC horde, 80 from the ECOFAC horde, and 56 from the Mikongo
horde. These genotypes were PCR-amplified from samples collected between
the years of 2016 and 2019. 348 of these genotypes originate from
non-invasively collected fecal samples, while 14 originate from blood and
six from hair. Each genotype contains 13 microsatellite loci (disregarding
missing data), with duplicate genotypes removed. Genotype files of males
only and females only are also available.