Loss of genetic variation in giant panda due to limited population and habitat fragmentation

The present study was designed to investigate effects of population size and habitat fragmentation on the long-term survival of giant panda. Genetic diversity including band-sharing coefficient, gene frequency, heterozygosity, numbers of alleles and genetic variability were estimated in two populations of the giant panda, which inhabited in Liangshan Mountain and Qionglai Mountain, respectively. The results showed that the decrease of genetic variation caused by genetic drift in Liangshan panda population coincide with the fact that this isolated population had less immigration individuals from the other populations. On the contrary, the Qionglai panda population possessed relatively high genetic variation due to the possible gene flow among the fragmented populations inside the Qionglai Mountain. This finding also indicates that the fragility of giant panda may be more sensitive to the population size than the habitat fragmentation. It was proved to be possible to enhance the genetic variation of the giant panda by promoting the immigration of the individuals among the different populations.