Abstract: | Although the phylogeography of European mammals has been extensively investigated
since the 1990s, many studies were limited in terms of sampling distribution, the
number of molecular markers used and the analytical techniques employed, frequently
leading to incomplete postglacial recolonisation scenarios. The broad-scale genetic
structure of the European badger (Meles meles) is of interest as it may
result from historic restriction to glacial refugia and/or recent anthropogenic
impact. However, previous studies were based mostly on samples from western Europe,
making it difficult to draw robust conclusions about the location of refugia,
patterns of postglacial expansion and recent demography. In the present study,
continent-wide sampling and analyses with multiple markers provided evidence for two
glacial refugia (Iberia and southeast Europe) that contributed to the genetic
variation observed in badgers in Europe today. Approximate Bayesian computation
provided support for a colonisation of Scandinavia from both Iberian and southeastern
refugia. In the whole of Europe, we observed a decline in genetic diversity with
increasing latitude, suggesting that the reduced diversity in the peripheral
populations resulted from a postglacial expansion processes. Although MSVAR v.1.3
also provided evidence for recent genetic bottlenecks in some of these peripheral
populations, the simulations performed to estimate the method''s power to
correctly infer the past demography of our empirical populations suggested that the
timing and severity of bottlenecks could not be established with certainty. We urge
caution against trying to relate demographic declines inferred using MSVAR with
particular historic or climatological events. |