Meredith A. Barrett

Species discovery and validation in a cryptic radiation of endangered primates: coalescent‐based species delimitation in Madagascar's mouse lemurs

Implementation of the coalescent model in a Bayesian framework is an emerging strength in genetically based species delimitation studies. By providing an objective measure of species diagnosis, these methods represent a quantitative enhancement to the analysis of multilocus data, and complement more traditional methods based on phenotypic and ecological characteristics. Recognized as two species 20 years ago, mouse lemurs (genus Microcebus) now comprise more than 20 species, largely diagnosed from mtDNA sequence data. With each new species description, enthusiasm has been tempered with scientific scepticism. Here, we present a statistically justified and unbiased Bayesian approach towards mouse lemur species delimitation. We perform validation tests using multilocus sequence data and two methodologies: (i) reverse‐jump Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling to assess the likelihood of different models defined a priori by a guide tree, and (ii) a Bayes factor delimitation test that compares different species‐tree models without a guide tree. We assess the sensitivity of these methods using randomized individual assignments, which has been used in bpp studies, but not with Bayes factor delimitation tests. Our results validate previously diagnosed taxa, as well as new species hypotheses, resulting in support for three new mouse lemur species. As the challenge of multiple researchers using differing criteria to describe diversity is not unique to Microcebus, the methods used here have significant potential for clarifying diversity in other taxonomic groups. We echo previous studies in advocating that multiple lines of evidence, including use of the coalescent model, should be trusted to delimit new species.

CITES Designation for Endangered Rosewood in Madagascar

Predicted forest losses and a recent government ban on logging build support for trade protection of Malagasy rosewood. Logging in Madagascar, one of the worlds most threatened biodiversity hot spots (1, 2), has rapidly increased amid political turmoil since a transitional government assumed power in March 2009 (1, 3). With as much as 90% of the countrys primary forest already lost, continued logging will mean species extinctions across all biotic elements of Madagascars ecosystems, where rates of endemism are unparalleled (2, 4, 5). We demonstrate immediate risk for rosewood (genus Dalbergia) species extinctions and thus the need for protection via international trade regulation under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Protection of Malagasy rosewood species, which suffer from targeted logging because of their high value in international markets, would not only avoid their extinction but also extend the benefits of protection to all biota within these threatened ecosystems.

Effects of anthropogenic disturbance on indri (Indri indri) health in Madagascar

Anthropogenic habitat disturbance impairs ecosystem health by fragmenting forested areas, introducing environmental contamination, and reducing the quality of habitat resources. The effect of this disturbance on wildlife health is of particular concern in Madagascar, one of the worlds biodiversity hotspots, where anthropogenic pressures on the environment remain high. Despite the conservation importance of threatened lemur populations in Madagascar, few data exist on the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on lemur health. To examine these impacts, indri (Indri indri) populations were evaluated from two forest reserves that differ in their exposure to anthropogenic disturbance. We compared the health status of 36 indri individuals from two sites: one population from a protected, undisturbed area of lowland evergreen humid forest and the other population from a reserve exposed to frequent tourism and forest degradation. Comparison of indri health parameters between sites suggests an impact of anthropogenic disturbance, including significant differences in leukocyte count and differential, 12 serum parameters, 6 trace minerals, and a higher diversity of parasites, with a significant difference in the presence of the louse, Trichophilopterus babakotophilus. These data suggest that indri living in disturbed forests may experience physiological changes and increased susceptibility to parasitism, which may ultimately impair reproductive success and survival. Am. J. Primatol. 73:632–642, 2011.

Integrating a One Health approach in education to address global health and sustainability challenges

Emerging infectious diseases are economically, socially, medically, and environmentally costly, as evidenced by the H1N1 influenza pandemic. Their broad consequences demand interdisciplinary solutions. One such solution, known as the One Health approach, is a growing global strategy that is being adopted by health organizations and policy makers in response to this need. It recognizes the interconnected nature of human, animal, and environmental health in an attempt to inform health policy, expand scientific knowledge, improve healthcare training and delivery, and address sustainability challenges. Education will play a particularly important role in realizing the One Health concept; however, a shortage of collaborative student programs, insufficient environmental training for health professionals, and a lack of institutional support impede progress. As a group of students from ecology, medicine, veterinary medicine, and global public health, we offer a vision for improving tertiary education to prepare e...

Molecular evolutionary characterization of a V1R subfamily unique to strepsirrhine primates.

Vomeronasal receptor genes have frequently been invoked as integral to the establishment and maintenance of species boundaries among mammals due to the elaborate one-to-one correspondence between semiochemical signals and neuronal sensory inputs. Here, we report the most extensive sample of vomeronasal receptor class 1 (V1R) sequences ever generated for a diverse yet phylogenetically coherent group of mammals, the tooth-combed primates (suborder Strepsirrhini). Phylogenetic analysis confirms our intensive sampling from a single V1R subfamily, apparently unique to the strepsirrhine primates. We designate this subfamily as V1Rstrep. The subfamily retains extensive repertoires of gene copies that descend from an ancestral gene duplication that appears to have occurred prior to the diversification of all lemuriform primates excluding the basal genus Daubentonia (the aye-aye). We refer to the descendent clades as V1Rstrep-α and V1Rstrep-β. Comparison of the two clades reveals different amino acid compositions corresponding to the predicted ligand-binding site and thus potentially to altered functional profiles between the two. In agreement with previous studies of the mouse lemur (genus, Microcebus), the majority of V1Rstrep gene copies appear to be intact and under strong positive selection, particularly within transmembrane regions. Finally, despite the surprisingly high number of gene copies identified in this study, it is nonetheless probable that V1R diversity remains underestimated in these nonmodel primates and that complete characterization will be limited until high-coverage assembled genomes are available.