Abstract
Much like humans, chimpanzees occupy diverse habitats and exhibit extensive behavioural variability. However, chimpanzees are recognized as a discontinuous species, with four subspecies separated by historical geographic barriers. Nevertheless, their range-wide degree of genetic connectivity remains poorly resolved, mainly due to sampling limitations. By analyzing a geographically comprehensive sample set amplified at microsatellite markers that inform recent population history, we found that isolation by distance explains most of the range-wide genetic structure of chimpanzees. Furthermore, we did not identify spatial discontinuities corresponding with the recognized subspecies, suggesting that some of the subspecies-delineating geographic barriers were recently permeable to gene flow. Substantial range-wide genetic connectivity is consistent with the hypothesis that behavioural flexibility is a salient driver of chimpanzee responses to changing environmental conditions. Finally, our observation of strong local differentiation associated with recent anthropogenic pressures portends future loss of critical genetic diversity if habitat fragmentation and population isolation continue unabated.
Highlights
Much like humans, chimpanzees occupy diverse habitats and exhibit extensive behavioural variability
stepwise mutation model (SMM) and the presence of homoplasy that are apparent in our data, we found the Effective Migration Surfaces (EEMS) model to be a good fit to our chimpanzee dataset
Our observations of high effective migration rates in P. t. verus may be a consequence of the overall paucity of diversity in this subspecies
Summary
Chimpanzees occupy diverse habitats and exhibit extensive behavioural variability. Among our closest living relatives, the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes)[6], exhibits extensive behavioural variation, both at a local and regional scale, and occupies a broad range of habitats and climates, while displaying little associated morphological variation[7,8]. To date, their pattern of genetic diversity is equivocal: some studies provide evidence of connectivity among all populations[9,10], while others have concluded that chimpanzees are taxonomically divided into four geographical subspecies[11,12,13,14,15]. Discrete geographic clustering of morphological traits along subspecies lines has not been conclusively shown[23,24,25] and, chimpanzees do show substantial behavioural variation across populations, to date, there are no universal subspecies-specific behaviours, i.e., accumulative stone throwing is unique to P. t. verus, but has only been observed at a few study sites[26]
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