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Response to Wayne, Nowak, and Phillips and Henry: Use of Molecular Characters in Conservation Biology
Author(s) -
Dowling Thomas E.,
Minckley W.L.,
Douglas Michael E.,
Marsh Paul C.,
Demarais Bruce D.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
conservation biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.2
H-Index - 222
eISSN - 1523-1739
pISSN - 0888-8892
DOI - 10.1046/j.1523-1739.1992.06040600.x
Subject(s) - citation , library science , philosophy , computer science
In our recent letter (Dowling et al. 1992), we stated our concerns over two interrelated issues: (1) the use of genetic (i.e., molecular) characters in identifying species and their hybrids, and (2) the role of hybridization in evolution. The letter was stimulated by Wayne and Jenks' (1991) analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation in the red wolf, Canis rufus, and subsequent interpretations presented in both the professional (e.g., Gittleman & Pimm 1991) and popular literature (e.g., Rennie 1991). Although consequences for conservation of the red wolf were addressed in those papers, our letter was focused more on the broader implications for conservation of endangered taxa. In this issue, Nowak (1992) and Phillips and Henry (1992) have presented views generally in accord with ours, providing additional behavioral, ecological, morphological, and paleontological evidence supporting distinctiveness of the red wolf and its continued protection under the United States' Endangered Species Act. Nowak concludes that the red wolf is (1) neither the product of ongoing or recent hybridization between coyote (C latrans) and gray wolf (C lupus) nor, (2) a taxon of hybrid origin, but (3) represents a descendant from an intermediate stage in wolf evolution. We concur with his first conclusion but await further data to evaluate the second and third. The only current evidence inconsistent with the last alternative is the lack of distinctiveness among mtDNA sequences from red and gray wolves. Wayne and Jenks (1991) presumably expected differences as predicted from the "standard" rate of mtDNA evolution based on the calibration from primates (Hillis & Moritz 1990). Explanation of such a discordance requires only a reduction in rate of mtDNA evolution in wolves relative to primates, and such rate variation has been documented for a variety of organisms (e.g., Avise et al. 1992; Martin et al. 1992). The most appropriate test of an hybrid origin will be provided by analysis of codominant, single locus, nuclear gene markers alluded to by Phillips and Henry (1992). Also in this issue, Wayne (1992) takes exception to