Large-scale assessment of genetic diversity and population connectivity of Amazonian jaguars (Panthera onca) provides a baseline for their conservation and monitoring in fragmented landscapes (Microsatellite loci dataset)

Jaguar population genetics has so far not been investigated on a broad scale in the Amazon rainforest, which constitutes the largest remaining block of continuous habitat for the species. Given its size, it serves not only as a stronghold but also as a reference for jaguar conservation genetics, against which fragmented landscapes can be compared. We assessed genetic diversity and population structure of Amazonian jaguars using 11 microsatellite loci and performed comparative analyses incorporating available data from two other South American biomes (Pantanal and Atlantic Forest) in which the species has faced different amounts of habitat loss and fragmentation. Using the largest genetic data set assembled to date for jaguars (n=190), we observed that all diversity indices were consistently higher for the Amazonian population, with no genetic subdivision detected in that region, indicating large-scale connectivity across >3000 km. In contrast, we corroborate the inference of anthropic-driven genetic structure and bottlenecks for two Atlantic Forest populations. Our results indicate that the Amazon is a critically important stronghold for jaguars, comprising a highly diverse, panmictic population that allows a glimpse into the patterns of genetic connectivity that characterized this species prior to human intervention. In contrast, the Atlantic Forest populations jointly still retain considerable levels of genetic diversity, but this is currently partitioned among isolated fragments that are increasingly subjected to heavy anthropic disturbance. These results have important implications for jaguar conservation planning, highlighting the critical condition of Atlantic Forest populations and providing a genetic baseline to which they can be compared.

迄今为止，对亚马逊雨林中的美洲豹种群遗传学的研究尚未在广泛范围内进行，亚马逊雨林是该物种最大的连续栖息地区块。鉴于其庞大的规模，它不仅构成了物种的坚强堡垒，而且成为了美洲豹保护遗传学的参照，可供破碎景观与之对比。我们采用11个微卫星位点的遗传多样性以及种群结构，对亚马逊美洲豹进行了评估，并通过对来自其他两个南美生物群落（潘塔纳尔和亚马孙雨林）的现有数据进行比较分析，这两个生物群落中物种面临不同程度的栖息地丧失和破碎化。利用迄今为止为美洲豹构建的最大遗传数据集（n=190），我们发现所有多样性指数在亚马逊种群中均保持较高水平，且在该地区未检测到遗传亚群，表明超过3000公里的广大区域内存在大规模的连通性。相比之下，我们证实了两个大西洋森林种群中由于人类活动引起的遗传结构推断和瓶颈。我们的研究结果表明，亚马逊是美洲豹至关重要的坚强堡垒，拥有一个高度多样且泛交的种群，这使我们得以一窥该物种在人类干预之前所具有的遗传连通性模式。相反，大西洋森林种群虽然仍然保留了相当水平的遗传多样性，但当前这些多样性已被分割在越来越受到严重人类干扰的孤立片段中。这些结果对美洲豹保护规划具有重要意义，凸显了大西洋森林种群的关键状况，并为它们提供了一个遗传基准，与之进行比较。