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Martins, N.
N£mero m¡nimo de indiv¡duos e diversidade gen‚tica de on‡a-parda no n£cleo Santa Virg¡nia, Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, SÆo Paulo
2011  Full Book

The cougar (_Puma concolor_) is the second largest feline species in Brazil. It has a wide distribution across the Americas, occurring from southwestern Canada to the Strait of Magellan, in the extreme south of Argentina and Chile, throughout the Brazilian territory. In this study we estimated the minimum number of individuals and genetic diversity of cougars in the Santa Virginia Unit, Serra do Mar State Park (PESM), SÆo Paulo, based on fecal DNA analysis. Hair snares were also used to an attempt to obtain more samples. For the diagnosis of the species, we amplified a 146bp fragment of the cytochrome b gene of mitochondrial DNA. We used six microsatellite _loci_ for the fecal samples individualization, to estimate the minimum number of individuals and genetic characterization of the population. No hair sample was obtained during the study. Among the 40 fecal samples obtained, 34 were successfully diagnosed, and we found 25 samples of _P. concolor_, eight of _Leopardus tigrinus_ and one of _Leopardus pardalis_. The _multiloci_ genotypes were obtained for only 15 samples belonging to 12 different puma individuals. The allelic dropout average rate was 10.43%. The mean observed heterozygosity was 0.6202, lower than that found for the species in fragmented areas of Cerrado, in the northeastern SÆo Paulo. There were deviations in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) for one _locus_ and a deficit of heterozygous for the set _loci_ used. However, there was no evidence of recent population bottleneck. Therefore, the deviation in HWE could be caused by the presence of null alleles or the low number of samples. Little relationship was found between individuals (6.1% Half-Sibs), indicating a possible continuous stream of cougars in the region. Thus, the PESM deserves special attention for being the largest continuous remnant of Brazilian Atlantic Forest and, therefore, similar studies are needed in the other Units of this Park so that together they can provide a more comprehensive view of the _P. concolor_ situation in this biome.

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