Evolution of the Dawson caribou (Rangifer
Abstract: The Dawson caribou (Rangifer tarandus dawsoni) was a rare subspecies of caribou that inhabited Haida Gwaii, an archipelago located 80 km off the west coast of Canada. It became extinct during the early part of the 20th century and to this day all that remains of Dawson caribou are several...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.535.4498 http://web.uvic.ca/~reimlab/Dawson.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract: The Dawson caribou (Rangifer tarandus dawsoni) was a rare subspecies of caribou that inhabited Haida Gwaii, an archipelago located 80 km off the west coast of Canada. It became extinct during the early part of the 20th century and to this day all that remains of Dawson caribou are several pelts, skulls, and antlers. With the exception of a physical description based on these remains, not much is known about the taxonomy of this subspecies of caribou. Using molecular and ancient-DNA techniques, we sequenced 215 base pairs of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome b and compared these sequences with those from conspecifics Rangifer tarandus caribou (woodland caribou) and Rangifer tarandus granti (barren-ground caribou). These analyses suggest that the Dawson caribou was not genetically distinct. The unique morphology characterizing this extinct form of caribou may have been of recent origin, either from local selection pressures or from environmentally induced phenotypic plasticity. Résumé: Le caribou de Dawson (Rangifer tarandus dawsoni) est une sous-espèce rare du caribou qui vivait dans l’archipel de Haida Gwayii, situé à 80 km au large de la côte ouest du Canada, et qui est disparu au début du 20e siècle et, à ce jour, tout ce qui reste du caribou de Dawson se résume à plusieurs peaux, crânes et merrains. À l’exception d’une description physique basée sur ces restes, la taxonomie de la sous-espèce est mal connue. Au moyen de techniques moléculaires et de méthodes d’analyse de l’ADN ancien, nous avons procédé au séquençage de 215 pai-res de bases du gène du cytochorome b et comparé les séquences obtenues à celles des autres sous-espèces, Rangifer |
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