Genomic Analyses of the Caribbean Mammal Fauna

Until very recently, the Caribbean hosted one of the world’s most diverse insular land mammal faunas, with approximately 100 endemic species of rodents, insectivores, sloths and monkeys found on the major islands of the Greater Antilles. However, Caribbean mammals have experienced the most severe post-glacial extinctions of any mammal fauna, and today only 15 putative species, mostly highly threatened capromyid rodents, survive in the region. In marked contrast to other insular regions which still retain a significant component of their pre-human mammal fauna (e.g. Madagascar), there have been only limited attempts to reconstruct either the colonization history of the insular Caribbean by different mammal lineages, or inter-island patterns of Quaternary mammalian phylogeny and biogeography.

In order to better understand the origins and evolution of this fascinating and formerly highly diverse fauna, we have been working on the recovery and analysis of DNA from a wide range of Caribbean mammal remains. The conditions in most Caribbean Quaternary sites are however not well suited for the preservation of organic molecules, despite their relatively recent age. This paper will therefore address the range of questions, and sources of molecular information most suitable for research in the Caribbean region, with a focus on genomic datasets.