STANDARDIZATION OF GENETIC CAPTURE-MARK-RECAPTURE TECHNIQUE FOR POPULATION ESTIMATION IN ASIAN ELEPHANTS (Elephas maximus), USING SELECTED FIELD SITES IN KARNATAKA
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Date
2021
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KARNATAKA VETERINARY, ANIMAL AND FISHERIES SCIENCES UNIVERSITY, BIDAR
Abstract
A study was conducted to standardize Genetic Capture-Mark Recapture
technique for population estimation of Asian elephants. Blood and dung samples were
collected from 35 captive elephants of Mathigodu and Dubare camps for genetic
diversity study and 138 dung samples were collected from the adjacent forest area of
the Mathigodu camp for population density estimation. A panel of 10 microsatellite
loci viz., LA04, EMU13, EMU07, EMU8, EMU14, EMU18, EMU02, EMU01,
EMU11 and EMU03 were utilized for genotyping. The amplified PCR products were
genotyped using an ABI Genetic Analyzer 3500XL. The genetic diversity parameters
were estimated using CERVUS software package version 3.0.
Out of 35 blood samples, 33.4 ± 0.49 samples showed genotyping results. The
allele numbers ranged from 3 (LA04) to 6 (EMU07) with mean number of alleles of
4.3 ± 0.3. The mean observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.693 ± 0.06 and
0.654 ± 0.019, respectively. The mean PIC value was 0.586 ± 0.019 and the total
combined probability of identity (PID) across all the loci was 4 x 10-8. Out of 35 dung
samples, 23.8 ± 1.87 samples showed genotyping results. The allele numbers ranged
from 3 (LA04) to 6 (EMU07) with mean number of alleles of 3.8 ± 0.29. The mean
observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.624 ± 0.073 and 0.572 ± 0.024,
respectively. The mean PIC value was 0.489 ± 0.023 and the total combined PID
across all the loci was 1.5 x 10-6. Spatially Explicit Capture-Recapture (SECR)
package of R statistical software was utilized to estimate the density. In the study
area, 21 unique individuals were identified and the density was found to be 13.64 ±
3.68 elephants per 100 Sq. km.