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Mapping black panthers: Macroecological modeling of melanism in leopards (Panthera pardus) - PubMed

  • ️Sun Jan 01 2017

. 2017 Apr 5;12(4):e0170378.

doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0170378. eCollection 2017.

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Mapping black panthers: Macroecological modeling of melanism in leopards (Panthera pardus)

Lucas G da Silva et al. PLoS One. 2017.

Abstract

The geographic distribution and habitat association of most mammalian polymorphic phenotypes are still poorly known, hampering assessments of their adaptive significance. Even in the case of the black panther, an iconic melanistic variant of the leopard (Panthera pardus), no map exists describing its distribution. We constructed a large database of verified records sampled across the species' range, and used it to map the geographic occurrence of melanism. We then estimated the potential distribution of melanistic and non-melanistic leopards using niche-modeling algorithms. The overall frequency of melanism was ca. 11%, with a significantly non-random spatial distribution. Distinct habitat types presented significantly different frequencies of melanism, which increased in Asian moist forests and approached zero across most open/dry biomes. Niche modeling indicated that the potential distributions of the two phenotypes were distinct, with significant differences in habitat suitability and rejection of niche equivalency between them. We conclude that melanism in leopards is strongly affected by natural selection, likely driven by efficacy of camouflage and/or thermoregulation in different habitats, along with an effect of moisture that goes beyond its influence on vegetation type. Our results support classical hypotheses of adaptive coloration in animals (e.g. Gloger's rule), and open up new avenues for in-depth evolutionary analyses of melanism in mammals.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests. The affiliation of author LBK with the company ‘BK Wildlife Photography’ does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Location of melanistic and non-melanistic leopard records analyzed in this study, overlaid on a map of terrestrial biomes (based on [35]).
Fig 2
Fig 2. Comparison between distinct phenotypes performed with the CSR test contrasting patterns of random and observed distributions of location records in our database.

(A) non-melanistic leopards (p = 0.019) and (B) melanistic leopards (p = 0.004).

Fig 3
Fig 3. Potential distribution maps of the two coloration phenotypes analyzed in this study.

(A) Distribution of non-melanistic leopards and (B) Distribution of melanistic leopards. Photos: Eduardo Eizirik and Lucas G. da Silva.

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References

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Grants and funding

This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), www.cnpq.br., Grant 150529/2014-7, awarded to EE and LGS. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The company ‘BK Wildlife Photography’ provided support in the form of salaries for author LBK, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of this author are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.

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