关键词: 海南坡鹿, 系统进化, 起源, 遗传多样性, 保护

Abstract: Eld’s deer (Cervus eldi),a highly endangered cervid,includes three subspecies (C. e. eldi,C. e. siamensis and C. e. thamin)that distribute in Southeast Asia and one separated population of C. e. siamensis occurs in Hainan Island of China named Hainan Eld’s deer. The endangered subspecies C. e. siamensis has been extinct in wild in Thailand over several decades. Recently,a conservation program has been launched in Thailand to establish wild population of C. e. siamensis from captive breeding deer in the zoo. Hainan Eld’s deer has been considered as supplement resource for the reestablish deer population. In this study,we analyzed variation in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)D-loop sequences of 35 Eld’s deer samples,including two Eld’s deer subspecies (C. e. siamensis and C. e. thamin)and Hainan Eld’s deer to address the following questions:(1) where did the Hainan Eld’s deer originate from;(2)the relationship between Hainan Eld’s deer and subspecies C. e. siamensis, and (3)the genetic diversity of Hainan Eld’s deer population. Four haplotypes were observed in all samples,all the samples of Hainan Eld’s deer shared an identical haplotype. We constructed phylogenetic trees by Maximum likelihood (ML),maximum parsimony (MP),Neighbour-Joining (NJ)and Bayesian method using the results of this study with sequences data provided by GenBank together. The Hainan Eld’s deer and C. e. siamensis were clustered together by MP and NJ method,however,
some genetic differentiation was detected between the Hainan Eld’s deer and C. e. siamensis. The average genetic distance is 0.026 between the Hainan Eld’s deer and C. e. siamensis. Our results suggest that Eld’s deer could distribute via land bridge from the South-easten Asian mainland to the Hainan Island during the Pleistocene (0. 69 Mya)when the sea level of Beibu Gulf seacoast went down in glacier age. Our results indicate a long-term historical isolation of Hainan Eld’s deer population from its original resource. Therefore,we do not recommend using Hainan Eld’s deer as supplement of C. e. siamensis. We recommend C. e. hainanus and C. e. siamensis should be both managed as evolutionarily significant units (ESUs).

Key words: Conservation, Genetic diversity, Hainan Eld’s deer, Origin, Phylogenetics