Data from: Genetic structure of the black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) in south-eastern Africa

Despite an on-going struggle to conserve the endangered black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) since the 1980’s, huge capital investment and several genetic surveys, the level of genetic structure and connectivity among populations in southern Africa is not well understood. Here, we undertake a major population genetic study of black rhinoceros in the Zimbabwe Lowveld, an area inhabited by over half of that country’s original Zambezi descendants plus one large population sourced from the relict KwaZulu stock of South Africa. Using nuclear microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA data, we found much higher levels of genetic diversity in the indigenous Zimbabwean populations, where observed multilocus heterozygosity was 0.54 vs 0.40 in KwaZulu, and maternal haplotype diversity was 0.77 vs 0.03. We show, for the first time, that both gene pools can be differentiated from each other on the basis of nuclear markers. This, along with the discovery of recent gene flow between all Lowveld populations, suggests that Zimbabwean and South African gene pools were prehistorically connected.

自20世纪80年代以来，尽管学界一直在为保护濒危的黑犀牛（*Diceros bicornis*）开展持续保育工作，投入巨额资金并实施了多项遗传学调查，但学界对南部非洲黑犀牛种群间的遗传结构与连通程度仍不甚明晰。本研究针对津巴布韦低草原地带（Zimbabwe Lowveld）的黑犀牛开展了一项大型种群遗传学研究，该区域栖息着该国超过半数的原生赞比西河支系黑犀牛种群，以及一个源自南非残存夸祖鲁种群的大型种群。本研究利用核微卫星（nuclear microsatellite）与线粒体DNA（mitochondrial DNA）数据开展分析，结果显示本土津巴布韦种群的遗传多样性水平显著更高：其观测到的多位点杂合度为0.54，而夸祖鲁种群仅为0.40；母系单倍型多样性为0.77，夸祖鲁种群则仅为0.03。本研究首次证实，两类基因库可通过核标记（nuclear markers）加以区分。结合本次研究发现的低草原地带所有种群间存在近期基因流这一结果，提示津巴布韦与南非的黑犀牛基因库在史前时期曾存在连通性。