Extensive population decline in the Tasmanian devil predates European settlement and devil facial tumour disease
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چکیده
منابع مشابه
Extensive population decline in the Tasmanian devil predates European settlement and devil facial tumour disease.
The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) was widespread in Australia during the Late Pleistocene but is now endemic to the island of Tasmania. Low genetic diversity combined with the spread of devil facial tumour disease have raised concerns for the species' long-term survival. Here, we investigate the origin of low genetic diversity by inferring the species' demographic history using tempora...
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The global extirpation of the world’s apex predator fauna is consistently highlighting their important functional role in preserving biodiversity and maintaining ecosystem resilience. Apex predator declines and extinctions are promoting more invasive and homogenised ecosystem states, linked with secondary species extinctions, changes to community composition, and redefined carnivore guilds. In ...
متن کاملTasmanian devil facial tumour disease: lessons for conservation biology.
Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease is an infectious cancer that threatens the largest surviving marsupial carnivore with extinction. After emerging in 1996, it has spread across most of the range of the species, leading to a population decline of more than 60%. This bizarre disease, in which the cancer cells themselves are the infective agent, illustrates some important general principles ab...
متن کاملLow major histocompatibility complex diversity in the Tasmanian devil predates European settlement and may explain susceptibility to disease epidemics.
The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is at risk of extinction owing to the emergence of a contagious cancer known as devil facial tumour disease (DFTD). The emergence and spread of DFTD has been linked to low genetic diversity in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). We examined MHC diversity in historical and ancient devils to determine whether loss of diversity is recent or predat...
متن کاملDemonstration of immune responses against devil facial tumour disease in wild Tasmanian devils
Devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) is a recently emerged fatal transmissible cancer decimating the wild population of Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii). Biting transmits the cancer cells and the tumour develops in the new host as an allograft. The literature reports that immune escape mechanisms employed by DFTD inevitably result in host death. Here we present the first evidence that DFTD...
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ژورنال
عنوان ژورنال: Biology Letters
سال: 2014
ISSN: 1744-9561,1744-957X
DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2014.0619