title: Genetic structure of the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) population: Are tigers in Sikhote-Alin and southwest Primorye truly isolated?
abstract: We used molecular genetic analyses to noninvasively identify individual Amur tigers and define subpopulations of tigers in the Russian Far East. We identified 63 individuals after genotyping 256 feces, 7 hair and 11 blood samples collected within southern, central and northern Sikhote-Alin, as well as Southwest Primorye. Analysis of nuclear DNA at 9 microsatellite loci demonstrated greater genetic similarity between animals from southern and northern Sikhote-Alin (some 500 km apart) than between animals from Ussuriskii State Nature Reserve and Southwest Primorye (less than 10 km apart at their nearest point), suggesting that a true barrier exists preventing movements of tigers between Southwest Primorye and the southern Sikhote-Alin Mountains.
authors.affiliation: A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Pavel A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Sorokin
authors.affiliation: A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Vyatcheslav V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Rozhnov
authors.affiliation: A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Anna U
authors.initials: AU
authors.lastname: Krasnenko
authors.affiliation: A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Victor S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Lukarevskiy
authors.affiliation: A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Sergey V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Naidenko
authors.affiliation: A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
authors.forename: Jose A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Hernandez-Blanco
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D005260:Female; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D011156:Population Density; D012426:Russia; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D046010:Tigers / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: Amur tiger; Panthera tigris altaica; fecal DNA; noninvasive genetic sampling