Mitochondrial cytochrome b indicates the presence of two paraphyletic diverged lineages of the blue sheep Pseudois nayaur across the Indian Himalaya: conservation implications.

Background: Populations exhibit signatures of local adaptive traits due to spatial and environmental heterogeneity resulting in microevolution. The blue sheep is widely distributed across the high Asian mountains and are the snow leopard's principal prey species. These mountains differ in their evolutionary history due to differential glaciation and deglaciation periods, orography, and rainfall patterns, and such factors causes diversification in species.

Elemental characterization of antlers of various deer species using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF): A tool for forensic examination.

Antlers are unique characteristic of males of family Cervidae. It fully regenerates each year in relation to their sexual cycles. It is primarily used as weapons in intra-specific fighting or possibly as organs displaying strength.

Whole genome survey of big cats (Genus: Panthera) identifies novel microsatellites of utility in conservation genetic study.

Big cats (Genus: Panthera) are among the most threatened mammal groups of the world, owing to hunting, habitat loss, and illegal transnational trade. Conservation genetic studies and effective curbs on poaching are important for the conservation of these charismatic apex predators. A limited number of microsatellite markers exists for Panthera species and researchers often cross-amplify domestic cat microsatellites to study these species.

Cross-amplification of ungulate microsatellite markers in the endemic Indian antelope or blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) for population monitoring and conservation genetics studies in south Asia.

The Indian antelope or blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) is endemic to the Indian subcontinent, inhabiting scrublands and dry grasslands. Most of the blackbuck populations are small, isolated, and threatened by habitat fragmentation and degradation. Management of such disjunct populations requires genetic characterization, which is critical for assessing hazards of stochastic events and inbreeding.

Revisiting the Woolly wolf (Canis lupus chanco) phylogeny in Himalaya: Addressing taxonomy, spatial extent and distribution of an ancient lineage in Asia.

Of the sub-species of Holarctic wolf, the Woolly wolf (Canis lupus chanco) is uniquely adapted to atmospheric hypoxia and widely distributed across the Himalaya, Qinghai Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and Mongolia. Taxonomic ambiguity still exists for this sub-species because of complex evolutionary history anduse of limited wild samples across its range in Himalaya. We document for the first time population genetic structure and taxonomic affinity of the wolves across western and eastern Himalayan regions from samples collected from the wild (n = 19) using mitochondrial control region (225bp).

Utility and Applicability of a Universal Set of Primers in Identifying the Sex of South and Southeast Asian Mammals.

Sex identification of individuals is an important task in wildlife forensics as well as in conservation biology. It helps scientists understand population sex ratios with respect to maintaining genetic diversity, managing inbreeding depression and preventing the demographic consequences of sex-biased poaching. The literature on the use of mammalian molecular sex markers indicates that the success of accurate sex identification is variable across species.

Investigating the genetic diversity and presence of forensically informative nucleotide sequences in Indian antelope (Antilope cervicapra) using multiple genes of the mitochondrial genome.

Indian antelope or Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) is one of the widely distributed endemic species in India among wild bovids and a majority of preferred habitats are in human-dominated landscapes. Poaching threats and habitat degradation are major factors for the decline in Blackbuck population from its distribution range. Till date, there is no detailed study using molecular techniques in India on Blackbuck, except a few studies entailing phylogenetic scenario based on inadequate sampling and DNA sequences restricted over limited geographic areas.

Species dilemma of musk deer ( spp) in India: molecular data on cytochrome oxidase I suggests distinct genetic lineage in Uttarakhand compared to other species.

Musk deer are of high conservation priority owing to poaching pressure because of its musk pod. Representation of musk deer status using genetics is poorly documented in India, and it is not confirmed as to how many species of musk deer are present. We characterize for the first time, the genetic diversity of musk deer from Uttarakhand using Cytochrome Oxidase sub-unit (COI) gene (486 bp) and compared with the data available for other species.

Inferring the molecular affinity of Indian pangolin with extant Manidae species based on mitochondrial genes: a wildlife forensic perspective.

Pangolins are the world`s most trafficked mammalian species classified under family Manidae and face severe threat of extinction, largely due to the illicit trade of its parts and products, especially scales, in international markets. Pangolin scales are believed to be used in Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM) and meat is used as delicacies in restaurants. Of the eight extant species of pangolin, morphological discrimination is easy but the situation becomes precarious once the scales and meat samples are seized and it is difficult to identify species based on morphology in such cases.

Phylogenetic relationship and molecular dating of Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) with other extant pangolin species based on complete cytochrome b mitochondrial gene.

Pangolins are a group of eight endangered mammalian species included in the family Manidae (Order Pholidota) and divided into four each African (Arboreal species; Phataginus tetradactyla, Phataginus tricuspis, Ground dwelling species; Smutsia gigantea and Smutsia temminckii) and Asian (Ground dwelling; Manis crassicaudata, Manis pentadactyla, Manis javanica and Manis culionensis) species. The taxonomy of all the eight extant pangolin species based on molecular genetics studies, remains unresolved and poorly examined. The present study is to address this lacuna by studying the phylogenetic, taxonomic status and molecular dating of Indian pangolin with other six out of eight extant pangolins (Sunda pangolin possibly extinct) based on complete coding region of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene.

Palghat gap reveals presence of two diverged populations of Nilgiri tahr () in Western Ghats, India.

Genetic analysis is an important tool in understanding population structure, genetic diversity, and phylogenetics of endangered species likely to be affected by microevolution and anthropogenic factors. Western Ghats landscape is one of the identified biodiversity hotspots in India, and micro-evolutionary processes are observed in this landscape due to the presence of the gaps in the mountain ranges. Nilgiri tahr is endemic to and distributed in this landscape while very little is known about genetic characteristics, population structure and impact of these gaps on the species.

Fine-scale population genetic structure of the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) in a human-dominated western Terai Arc Landscape, India.

Despite massive global conservation strategies, tiger populations continued to decline until recently, mainly due to habitat loss, human-animal conflicts, and poaching. These factors are known to affect the genetic characteristics of tiger populations and decrease local effective population sizes. The Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) at the foothills of the Himalaya is one of the 42 source sites of tigers around the globe.

Genetic characterization of wild swamp deer populations: ex situ conservation and forensics implications.

Swamp deer (Rucervus duvaucelii) is an endemic, Scheduled I species under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972, India. According to variations in antler size, it has been classified into three subspecies, namely Western (R. duvaucelii duvaucelii), Central (R.

Pioneer identification of fake tiger claws using morphometric and DNA-based analysis in wildlife forensics in India.

The illegal trade in wildlife is a serious threat to the existence of wild animals throughout the world. The short supply and high demand for wildlife articles have caused an influx of many different forms of fake wildlife articles into this trade. The task of identifying the materials used in making such articles poses challenges in wildlife forensics as different approaches are required for species identification.

Tigers of Sundarbans in India: is the population a separate conservation unit?

The Sundarbans tiger inhabits a unique mangrove habitat and are morphologically distinct from the recognized tiger subspecies in terms of skull morphometrics and body size. Thus, there is an urgent need to assess their ecological and genetic distinctiveness and determine if Sundarbans tigers should be defined and managed as separate conservation unit. We utilized nine microsatellites and 3 kb from four mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genes to estimate genetic variability, population structure, demographic parameters and visualize historic and contemporary connectivity among tiger populations from Sundarbans and mainland India.

Tiger density in a tropical lowland forest in the Eastern Himalayan Mountains.

Tropical evergreen forests in northeast India are a biological hot spot for conservation of flora and fauna. Little is known, however, about tiger abundance, which is a flagship species for tropical evergreen forests. Our objective was to document the capture rate and population density of tigers based on spatial explicit capture-recapture (SECR) approaches using camera trap data in an intensive study area (ISA) of 158 km(2) in Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR) during March to May 2006.

Panel of polymorphic heterologous microsatellite loci to genotype critically endangered Bengal tiger: a pilot study.

In India, six landscapes and source populations that are important for long-term conservation of Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) have been identified. Except for a few studies, nothing is known regarding the genetic structure and extent of gene flow among most of the tiger populations across India as the majority of them are small, fragmented and isolated. Thus, individual-based relationships are required to understand the species ecology and biology for planning effective conservation and genetics-based individual identification has been widely used.

MHC class I and MHC class II DRB gene variability in wild and captive Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris).

Bengal tigers are highly endangered and knowledge on adaptive genetic variation can be essential for efficient conservation and management. Here we present the first assessment of allelic variation in major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and MHC class II DRB genes for wild and captive tigers from India. We amplified, cloned, and sequenced alpha-1 and alpha-2 domain of MHC class I and beta-1 domain of MHC class II DRB genes in 16 tiger specimens of different geographic origin.

Using morphometric and analytical techniques to characterize elephant ivory.

There is a need to characterize Asian elephant ivory and compare with African ivory for controlling illegal trade and implementation of national and international laws. In this paper, we characterize ivory of Asian and African elephants using Schreger angle measurements, elemental analysis {X-ray fluorescence (XRF), inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS)} and isotopic analysis. We recorded Schreger angle characteristics of elephant ivory at three different zones in ivory samples of African (n=12) and Asian (n=28) elephants.