Whole-genome sequences shed light on the demographic history and contemporary genetic erosion of free-ranging jaguar(Panthera onca) populations

Whole-genome sequences provide massive amounts of data that can illuminate many aspects of a species’biology and evolutionary history,as well as valuable information for conservation planning.This is particularly important for large carnivores,whose large area requirements and typical low densities make them prone to undergo rapid genetic erosion(e.g.accumulation of runs of homozygosity,Diez del Molino et al.,2018;Leroy et al.,2018)in the face of habitat loss and human persecution.One such species is the jaguar(Pan-thera onca),the largest extant felid in the Americas,whose range has already declined by>50%and some of whose remaining popu-lations have been severely impacted by human-induced habitat frag-mentation(De La Torre et al.,2018).