Genetic relatedness and female spatial organization in a solitary carnivore, the raccoon, Procyon lotor

摘要: Among mammals, some of the most common types cohesive social groupings originate from natal philopatry through extended mother family. This retention females within groups (i.e. nonrandom dispersion female relatives in space) should affect population genetic structure. We examined relationship between relatedness and spatial organization a wild North-American raccoon, Procyon lotor, solitary carnivore east Tennessee. Multilocus band-sharing data 3(1/2) years radiotelemetry observations were used to study relationships among 38 adult females. DNA amplification employing primers arbitrary sequence (random amplified polymorphic DNA; RAPD) indicated that raccoons led greater likelihood neighbours being more related than expected by chance. Genetic distance based on RAPD band frequency was positively correlated with (P = 0.0001) similarity extent home-range overlap 0.0028). Philopatry seemed biased towards females; average female-female similarities male-male 0.0001), or male-female 0.0001). High low moderate levels sharing maternal inheritance space not prerequisite for establishing home ranges. Female probable explanation association