Phylogeography of lions (Panthera leo ssp.) reveals three distinct taxa and a late Pleistocene reduction in genetic diversity |
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| Authors: | ROSS BARNETT BETH SHAPIRO IAN BARNES SIMON Y. W. HO JOACHIM BURGER NOBUYUKI YAMAGUCHI THOMAS F. G. HIGHAM H. TODD WHEELER WILFRIED ROSENDAHL ANDREI V. SHER MARINA SOTNIKOVA TATIANA KUZNETSOVA GENNADY F. BARYSHNIKOV LARRY D. MARTIN C. RICHARD HARINGTON JAMES A. BURNS ALAN COOPER |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK,;Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16801, USA,;Department of Biology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK,;Centre for Macroevolution and Macroecology, School of Botany and Zoology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia,;Institute of Anthropology, Mainz University, 55099 Mainz, Germany,;Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Qatar, PO Box 2713, Doha, Qatar,;Research Laboratory for Archaeology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3QJ, UK,;George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, Los Angeles, CA 90036, USA,;Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, D-68159 Mannheim, Germany,;Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071 Moscow, Russia,;Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119017 Moscow, Russia,;Palaeontological Department, Geological Faculty, Moscow State University, 119899 Moscow, Russia,;Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 199034 St Petersburg, Russia,;Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA,;Canadian Museum of Nature (Palaeobiology), Ottawa, ON, Canada K1P 6P4,;Quaternary Palaeontology, Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton, AB, Canada T5N 0M6,;School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia |
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| Abstract: | Lions were the most widespread carnivores in the late Pleistocene, ranging from southern Africa to the southern USA, but little is known about the evolutionary relationships among these Pleistocene populations or the dynamics that led to their extinction. Using ancient DNA techniques, we obtained mitochondrial sequences from 52 individuals sampled across the present and former range of lions. Phylogenetic analysis revealed three distinct clusters: (i) modern lions, Panthera leo ; (ii) extinct Pleistocene cave lions, which formed a homogeneous population extending from Europe across Beringia (Siberia, Alaska and western Canada); and (iii) extinct American lions, which formed a separate population south of the Pleistocene ice sheets. The American lion appears to have become genetically isolated around 340 000 years ago, despite the apparent lack of significant barriers to gene flow with Beringian populations through much of the late Pleistocene. We found potential evidence of a severe population bottleneck in the cave lion during the previous interstadial, sometime after 48 000 years, adding to evidence from bison, mammoths, horses and brown bears that megafaunal populations underwent major genetic alterations throughout the last interstadial, potentially presaging the processes involved in the subsequent end-Pleistocene mass extinctions. |
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| Keywords: | American lion ancient DNA Beringia cave lion extinction megafauna |
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