Hypotheses:
Hypotheses Proposed subspecies as hypotheses
Subspecies should be distinguishable from each other
Groups within subspecies should not be distinguishable
Tests:
Tests Cranial Morphometric Analyses
Distinguishable by shape (vs size)
Linear Discriminant Analysis
> 90% @ jackknifed posterior P > 0.95
Eliminated age effects
Genetic Analyses
mtDNA (near) reciprocal monophyly
(ESU – Moritz 1994)
mtDNA control region sequences (515bp):
mtDNA control region sequences (515bp) Eastern Sierra (ES)
Sierra Nevada: 18
Inyo Mountains: 18
Hunter Mountain: 17
Last Chance Range: 16
White Mountains: 16
Mojave Desert (MD)
25 mountain ranges: 394 (Clint Epps)
Mt DNA results:
Mt DNA results 32 different haplotypes
15 haplotypes > 3 bases different
3 ES haplotypes notably more different from rest (Sierra, Inyo Mtns., Hunter Mt.)
Nuclear DNA:
Nuclear DNA Data for 12 microsatellite loci:
5 Sierra Nevada (212) + 1980s Baxter (38)
White Mountains (16)
Inyo Mountains (31)
Hunter Mountain (20)
Last Chance Range (21)
25 Mojave Desert populations (Clint): 394
Summary:
Morphometric/mtDNA results concordant
Sierra bighorn at least as different from desert bighorn as Rocky Mountain bighorn
The more we test, the more unique
Sierra bighorn bottlenecked; lower diversity
Diversity not an issue
Work in progress Summary