Genetic structure of expanding wolf (Canis lupus) populations in Italy and Croatia,and the early steps of the recolonization of the Eastern Alps |
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Institution: | 1. Laboratorio di Genetica, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), via Cà Fornacetta 9, 40064 Ozzano Emilia (BO), Italy;2. Department of Biology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Heinzelova 55, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia;3. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Rooseveltov trg 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia |
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Abstract: | After centuries of range contraction and demographic declines wolves are now expanding in Europe, colonizing regions from where they have been absent for centuries. Wolf colonizing the western Alps originate by the expansion of the Italian population. Vagrant wolves of Italian and Dinaric-Balkan origins have been recently observed in the Eastern Alps. In this study we compared the genetic structure of wolf populations in Italy and Croatia, aiming to identify the sources of the ongoing recolonization of the Eastern Alps. DNA samples, extracted from 282 Italian and 152 Croatian wolves, were genotyped at 12 autosomal microsatellites (STR), four Y-linked STR and at the hypervariable part of the mitochondrial DNA control-region (mtDNA CR1). Wolves in Croatia and Italy underwent recent demographic bottlenecks, but they differ in genetic diversity and population structure. Wolves in Croatia were more variable at STR loci (NA = 7.4, HO = 0.66, HE = 0.72; n = 152) than wolves in Italy (NA = 5.3, HO = 0.57, HE = 0.58; n = 282). We found four mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA CR1) and 11 Y-STR haplotypes in Croatian wolves, but only one mtDNA CR1 and three Y-STR haplotypes in Italy. Wolves in Croatia were subdivided into three genetically distinct subpopulations (in Dalmatia, Gorski kotar and Lika regions), while Italian wolves were not sub-structured. Assignment testing shows that the eastern and central Alps are recolonized by wolves dispersing from both the Italian and Dinaric populations. The recolonization of the Alps will predictably continue in the future and the new population will be genetically admixed and very variable with greater opportunities for local adaptations and survival. |
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Keywords: | Colonization genetics Genetic structure Landscape genetics Population expansion |
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