CONSERVATION OF ARABIAN GAZELLES - Nwrc.gov.sa

and heterozygosi ty values found in G. g. erlangeri are the consequences of a genetic bottleneck.
Similar results have been reported in two other species of ungulates, Dama dama (Pemberton and
Smith, 1985) and Capra ibex ibex (Stiiwe and Scribner, 1989). However, Ryman et al. (1990) have
shown that taxa which are initially found to be monomorphic can be found to be polymorphic when
more loci or more individuals are studied.
As expected, genetic distances showed that the different subspecies of Gazella gaze/la were
more closely related to each other than Gazella gazella is to Gazella subgutturosa.
Among
ungulates, cervids are the group which has been most studied by means of protein electrophoresis. It
is clear that there is much variation in genetic distances within and between species of cervids, and it
is very difficult to correlate specific values with specific taxonomic levels (Linnel and Cross, 1991).
Variation can be due in part to differences in techniques: for example how many and which loci are
examined. Nei's genetic distances between subspecies have been reported to be 0.013 in Rupicapra
rupicapra (Pemberton et al., 1989), 0.0182 in Cervus elaphus (Gyllensten et al., 1983), and 0.1 74 in
Rangifer tarandus (Baccus et al., 1983). Genetic distances between the species G. gazella and G.
subgutturosa are similar to the subspeciflc differences found in Rangifer tarandus.
Distances
between the subspecies of G. gazella are lower, and with the karyological results, indicate that these
subspecies probably diverged recently. If their population numbers do not drop to critically low
levels, we suggest that they may be rec()gnized and managed as distinct evolutionary significant units
(sensu Ryder, 1986) for conservation programmes. Should their conservation situation worsen, their
apparent genetic similarity makes it possible to consider collectively managing all subspecies of G.
gazella as a means of preserving the species.
Acknowledgements
This work was carried out under the patronage of H.R.H. Prince Saud Al Faisal and Prof. Abdulaziz
Abuzinada, Secretary-General of the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and
Development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We thank Dr Frankenberg from the Nature Reserves
Authority (Israel) for allowing us to sample mountain gazelles, and R. Darre (Ecole Nationale
Veterinrure de Toulouse, France) for his constant support during the last part of the project. We
would also like to thank G. Berrebi (Institut des Sciences de rEvolution, Montpellier, France) and
Anne Seguela (Ecole VettSrinaire de Toulouse) for technical assistance, and Steven Kingswood and
Georg Schwede for their help in tran slating the manuscript.
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