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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
general
Combining phylogenetic and demographic inferences to assess the origin of the genetic diversity in an isolated Wolf population
PLoS ONE, Volume 12, No. 5, Article e0176560, Year 2017
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Description
The survival of isolated small populations is threatened by both demographic and genetic factors. Large carnivores declined for centuries in most of Europe due to habitat changes, overhunting of their natural prey and direct persecution. However, the current rewilding trends are driving many carnivore populations to expand again, possibly reverting the erosion of their genetic diversity. In this study we reassessed the extent and origin of the genetic variation of the Italian Wolf population, which is expanding after centuries of decline and isolation. We genotyped wolves from Italy and other nine populations at four mtDNA regions (control-region, ATP6, COIII and ND4) and 39 autosomal microsatellites. Results of phylo-genetic analyses and assignment procedures confirmed in the Italian wolves a second private mtDNA haplotype, which belongs to a haplogroup distributed mostly in southern Europe. Coalescent analyses showed that the unique mtDNA haplotypes in the Italian wolves likely originated during the late Pleistocene. ABC simulations concordantly showed that the extant Wolf populations in Italy and in south-western Europe started to be isolated and declined right after the last glacial maximum. Thus, the standing genetic variation in the Italian wolves principally results from the historical isolation south of the Alps. © 2017 Montana et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Authors & Co-Authors
Caniglia, Romolo
Italy, Rome
Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research
Galaverni, Marco
Italy, Rome
Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research
Fabbri, Elena
Italy, Rome
Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research
Černá Bolfíková, Barbora
Czech Republic, Prague
Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
Galov, Ana
Croatia, Zagreb
University of Zagreb
Godinho, Raquel
Portugal, Porto
Universidade do Porto
Hindrikson, Maris
Estonia, Tartu
Tartu Ülikool
Hulva, Pavel
Czech Republic, Prague
Charles University
Czech Republic, Ostrava
Ostravská Univerzita V Ostrave
Jȩdrzejewska, Bogumiła
Poland, Bialowieza
Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Saarma, Urmas
Estonia, Tartu
Tartu Ülikool
Skrbinšek, Tomaž
Czech Republic, Brno
Mendelova Univerzita V Brně
Randi, Ettore
Italy, Rome
Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research
Denmark, Aalborg
Aalborg University
Statistics
Citations: 28
Authors: 12
Affiliations: 13
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1371/journal.pone.0176560
ISSN:
19326203
Research Areas
Genetics And Genomics
Health System And Policy
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study