Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34743188›Full record

ArticleHeredity2021

Evidence of spatial genetic structure in a snow leopard population from Gansu, China.

Luciano Atzeni, Samuel A Cushman, Jun Wang, Philip Riordan, Kun Shi, David Bauman

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Heredity, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Exceedingly low genetic diversity in snow leopards due to persistently small population size.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Luciano AtzeniWildlife Institute, School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China.
Samuel A CushmanUS Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.
Jun WangWildlife Institute, School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China.
Philip RiordanWildlife Institute, School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China.
Kun ShiWildlife Institute, School of Ecology and Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China. kunshi@bjfu.edu.cn.
David BaumanSmithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9115-6518

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Understanding the spatial structure of genetic diversity provides insights into a populations' genetic status and enables assessment of its capacity to counteract the effects of genetic drift. Such knowledge is particularly scarce for the snow leopard, a conservation flagship species of Central Asia mountains. Focusing on a snow leopard population in the Qilian mountains of Gansu Province, China, we characterised the spatial genetic patterns by incorporating spatially explicit indices of diversity and multivariate analyses, based on different inertia levels of Principal Component Analysis (PCA). We compared two datasets differing in the number of loci and individuals. We found that genetic patterns were significantly spatially structured and were characterised by a broad geographical division coupled with a fine-scale cline of differentiation. Genetic admixture was detected in two adjoining core areas characterised by higher effective population size and allelic diversity, compared to peripheral localities. The power to detect significant spatial relationships depended primarily on the number of loci, and secondarily on the number of PCA axes. Spatial patterns and indices of diversity highlighted the cryptic structure of snow leopard genetic diversity, likely driven by its ability to disperse over large distances. In combination, the species' low allelic richness and large dispersal ability result in weak genetic differentiation related to major geographical features and isolation by distance. This study illustrates how cryptic genetic patterns can be investigated and analysed at a fine spatial scale, providing insights into the spatially variable isolation effects of both geographic distance and landscape resistance.

Indexed as

PantheraAnimalsChinaGenetics, PopulationGenetic VariationGeographyHumansMicrosatellite RepeatsPopulation Density

Identifiers

PMID34743188
PMCPMC8626472

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.