Inter- and Intraspecific Genetic Biodiversity in South East Asian Rodents: New Insights for Their Conservation

South East Asia displays a high level of mammal endemism and the
<br />highest number of threatened and data deficient mammal species. However, the
<br />South East Asian biodiversity is still highly unexplored. Because of the runaway
<br />global changes, a better biological knowledge of this region is urgently required to
<br />improve the conservation and the management of its biodiversity.
<br />The first aim of this chapter is to present recent published data on a biodiversity
<br />inventory of the Rattini murine rodents from this region based on molecular markers
<br />(Page`s et al., 2009). In this first study, we applied the method proposed by Pons et al.
<br />(2006) that determines with no a priori the locations of ancestral nodes that define
<br />putative species in order to investigate the current taxonomy of the Rattini tribe.
<br />Our second aim concerns the intraspecific genetic structure of a rare and
<br />threatened South East Asian mammal species: the murine rodent Leopoldamys
<br />neilli, endemic to karst habitats . In this latter study, our results evidenced a high
<br />geographic structure of the genetic diversity of this species. The observed highly
<br />divergent genetic lineages would have to be considered as distinct evolutionary
<br />units or at least as Management units. These results are essential for the best
<br />conservation issues of species endemic to karsts and to South East Asia, in general.
<br />In this chapter, we therefore highlight that South East Asia would not be only a
<br />hotspot of interspecific but also of intraspecific biodiversity.