Data from: Relatedness and demography of African forest elephants: inferences from noninvasive fecal DNA analyses

African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) are genetically and morphologically distinct from their savannah counterparts, but their biology remains poorly understood. In this study, I use noninvasive fecal DNA analyses to examine the relatedness structure and historical demography of forest elephants at two sites in SW Gabon, central Africa. Pairwise relatedness values calculated between 162 elephant individuals genotyped at eight microsatellite loci were significantly higher within spatially associated dung piles than between random pairings for one site. First- and second-order relatives were most commonly detected among dung piles from adult female pairs and adult females and juveniles. Pairwise relatedness estimates suggested that, like savannah elephants, forest groups are largely composed of adult females, their sisters, and juvenile offspring. Associations between males, and groups containing juveniles from multiple related females, were detected but at much lower frequency. Analysis of mitochondrial d-loop sequences from 70 elephant individuals identified two haplogroups in SW Gabon.

非洲森林象（Loxodonta cyclotis）在遗传与形态学层面上与非洲草原象存在显著差异，但目前学界对其生物学特征仍知之甚少。本研究采用非侵入性粪便DNA分析技术，对中非加蓬西南部两个研究区域内的非洲森林象的亲缘关系结构与历史种群动态展开探究。针对其中一个研究区域，对162头经8个微卫星位点基因分型的非洲森林象个体计算得到的两两亲缘关系值显示，空间上聚集的粪便堆之间的亲缘关系值显著高于随机配对个体间的亲缘关系值。在成年雌性个体配对的粪便堆，以及成年雌性与幼崽共存的粪便堆中，最常检测到一级与二级亲缘关系的个体。两两亲缘关系评估结果表明，与非洲草原象类似，非洲森林象的社群主体主要由成年雌性个体、其雌性姐妹以及幼崽后代构成。研究同时检测到雄性个体间的关联，以及包含多只亲缘雌性个体后代的社群，但此类关联的发生频率显著更低。对70头非洲森林象个体的线粒体D环序列进行分析后，在加蓬西南部地区鉴定出两个单倍群。