Abstract booklet - gtö – Society for Tropical Ecology

210 SCIENTIFIC POSTER SESSION | FOYERSCIENTIFIC POSTER SESSION | FOYER211Topic: East African mountain forests: functional ecology and sustainablemanagementCONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF MOUNTAIN FORESTSTHROUGH EDUCATION-MOUNTAIN FORESTRY MASTER PROGRAMAT BOKU, VIENNATopic: African savannas biodiversity - past, present, futurePHYLOGENETIC AND PHYLOGEOGRAPHIC ANALYSES OF AFRICANAND ARABIAN DORCAS GAZELLES (GAZELLA DORCAS)Hannes Lerp 1 , Martin Plath 1 , Torsten Wronski 2WEDNESDAY | FOYERCordula Lennkh 1 , Gratzer Georg 21University of Glamorgan, Trefforest, UK, cordula.lennkh@boku.ac.at, 2 Universityof Natural Resources and Life Sciences-BOKU, Vienna, ATMountain regions are complex systems with a critical importance forglobal resource availability. As such they present challenges for integratingdifferent stakeholders interests. The Mountain Forestry Master Program is aspecialized education scheme targeting employees of governmental and nongovernmentalorganizations dealing with the management and conservationof forests in mountainous areas with special emphasis on developing countries.Ethiopia was, ever since the beginning of the Mountain Forestry Master Programin 2002, one of the main countries of origin of students. Ethiopian MountainForestry students are dominantly from the Amhara region. Forest cover is verylow in Ethiopia with a high percentage of the poverty-stricken economy basedon agriculture. Ongoing deforestation contributes to land degradation. Nearlyall Mountain Forestry graduates, 92% returned to Ethiopia and are currentlyemployed with the Amhara regions environmental protection authority.The Mountain Forestry Master Program provides students with a holisticeducation approach and information systems to empower them as resourceusers in mountain societies. The aim of the Master Program is to enable graduatesdo contribute to improved extension services and changes in development asqualified field officers and foresters leading to more diverse sources of incomethrough agro forestry and non-timber forest products and in particular to foodsecurity through improved land management. Direct investments in humancapacity for sustainable management in mountain regions an effective lever forpoverty alleviation.1Uni Frankfurt, Dept Eco&Evo, Frankfurt am Main, DE, lerp@bio.uni-frankfurt.de, 2 King Khalid Wildlife Research Centre, National Commission for WildlifeConservation and Development, Riyadh, SAOnce common throughout the entire Sahelo-Saharan region, population sizesof Dorcas gazelles (Gazella dorcas) are nowadays decreasing dramatically. Theuncertain taxonomy of this species—with a variety of described subspecieswithout validated status—hampers conservation efforts. In this situation,phylogenetic and phylogeographic investigations using molecular techniquesare highly warranted conservation tools. Here we provide a first analysis ofthe genetic variability of Dorcas gazelles from the species’ entire distributionrange. We sequenced the cytochrome b gene and a 540bp fragment of themitochondrial control region of more than 70 individuals. Unlike in other gazelletaxa examined by our group, genetic variability within G. dorcas was surprisinglylow. Dorcas gazelles are migratory depending on local precipitation, which mayaccount for the observed lack of larger geographic population differentiation,but the generally low genetic variability cannot be explained by this fact alone.A recent bottleneck seems to be the most likely explanation for this pattern.Merian Award Winner 2011Wednesday WEDNESDAY 16:00 | FOYER | FoyergtöSociety for Tropical Ecology | Gesellschaft für Tropenökologie e.V. Status and future of tropical biodiversity | Frankfurt, 21 - 24 February 2011gtö