Koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) from Queensland are genetically distinct from 2 populations in Victoria

The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) suffered population declines and local extirpation due to hunting in the early 20th century, especially in southern Australia. Koalas were subsequently reintroduced to the Brisbane Ranges (BR) and Stony Rises (SR) by translocating individuals from a population on French Island descended from a small number of founders. To examine genetic diversity and north–south differentiation, we genotyped 13 microsatellite markers in 46 wild koalas from the BR and SR, and 27 Queensland koalas kept at the US zoos. The Queensland koalas displayed much higher heterozygosity (H O = 0.73) than the 2 southern Australian koala populations examined: H O = 0.49 in the BR, whereas H O = 0.41 in the SR. This is consistent with the historical accounts of bottlenecks and founder events affecting the southern populations and contrasts with reports of high genetic diversity in some southern populations. The 2 southern Australian koala populations were genetically similar (F ST = ...考拉（学名：*Phascolarctos cinereus*）在20世纪早期因过度捕猎遭遇种群数量缩减与局部灭绝，在澳大利亚南部地区情况尤为突出。此后，科研人员通过从法国岛某种群（该种群由少量奠基个体繁衍而来）中转移个体，将考拉重新引入布里斯班岭（Brisbane Ranges, BR）与石岭（Stony Rises, SR）区域。为探究遗传多样性与南北种群分化情况，本研究对46只采自BR与SR区域的野生考拉，以及27只饲养于美国动物园的昆士兰州考拉开展了13个微卫星标记（microsatellite marker）的基因分型检测。结果显示，昆士兰州考拉的观测杂合度（*H_O*=0.73）显著高于本次研究涉及的2个澳大利亚南部考拉种群：BR种群的观测杂合度为0.49，SR种群则为0.41。该结果与历史记录中南部种群遭遇种群瓶颈（population bottleneck）与奠基者事件（founder event）的情形相符，同时与部分关于南部考拉种群拥有高遗传多样性的研究报道形成鲜明反差。本次研究涉及的2个澳大利亚南部考拉种群在遗传层面相似度较高（*F_ST* = ...