TAPIRUS TERRESTRIS: USING GENOTYPING OF NONINVASIVE SAMPLES TO EXPAND POPULATION ANALYSES FOR CONSERVATION IN PRACTICE

DELFINA SOTORRES; ORLANDO MAXIMILIANO ESCALANTE; CARINA FRANCISCA ARGÜELLES; KAREN ELIZABETH DEMATTEO

Congreso; II Congresso Latino-Americano de Genética para Conservação; 2021

Red de Genética para la Conservación (ReGeneC)

In the past decades, the Alto Paraná Atlantic Forest Ecoregion has been threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, due to land use changes and anthropogenic activities. One of the largest remnants of this unique forest is in the province of Misiones (Argentina). Unfortunately, this region has a discontinuity in the landscape where protected areas are immersed in a matrix of altered habitats varying in size and connectivity. Here, the tapir (Tapirus terrestris) plays a key role as seed disperser and landscape architect, as well as prey of other key species, including the jaguar (Panthera onca). However, its local populations are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching, livestock farming, and urbanization. The aim of this study was to expand our knowledge from species presence to number of individuals for populations of T. terrestris in Misiones. We used scats collected with detection dogs that were genetically confirmed at species-level (n = 10) plus reference samples from a forensic case (n = 2). We used 12 fluorescently-labelled primers for microsatellite amplifications, which were read using capillary electrophoresis and individual genotypes interpreted with GeneMapper 3.7 (n = 11 individuals). Using Micro-Checker, no evidence of null alleles or scoring errors were detected and, as an initial step of population genetic analyses, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was confirmed. For within-population indices of genetic diversity, we analyzed the number of different alleles per locus, allele richness, population allele frequencies (range least to most frequent = 0.042 ? 1.000), as well as expected (He = 0.606) and observed (Ho = 0.728) heterozygosity. Next steps will include an increase in sample size, using samples collected in other surveys with detection dogs, and spatial analysis of habitat associations. This will allow a broader comprehension of the population status of T. terrestris in the Green Corridor of Misiones.