Abstract
In north-eastern France, red deer (Cervus elaphus L.) populations were rebuilt from a few hundred individuals, which have subsisted in remote valleys of the Vosges mountains, and to a lesser extent from individuals escaped from private enclosures; at present times, this species occupies large areas, mainly in the Vosges Mountains. In this study, we examined the population dynamics of red deer in the Vosges Mountains using ancient and contemporary mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from 140 samples (23 ancient + 117 modern) spanning the last 7’000 years. In addition, we reconstructed the feeding habits and the habitat of red deer since the beginning of agriculture applying isotopic analyses in order to establish a basis for current environmental management strategies. We show that past and present red deer in the Vosges Mountains belong to mtDNA haplogroup A, suggesting that they originated from the Iberian refugium after the last glacial maximum (LGM). Palaeogenetic analysis of ancient bone material revealed the presence of two distinct haplotypes with different temporal distributions. Individuals belonging to the two haplotype groups apparently occupied two different habitats over at least 7’000 years. AM6 correlates with an ecological type that feeds in densely forested mountain landscapes, while AM235 correlates with feeding in lowland landscapes, composed of a mixture of meadows and riverine, herb-rich woodlands. Our results suggest that red deer of north-eastern France was able to adapt, over the long term, to these different habitat types, possibly due to efficient ethological barriers. Modern haplotype patterns support the historical record that red deer has been exposed to strong anthropogenic influences as a major game species.
Highlights
Red deer (Cervus elaphus L.) is currently one of the most widespread European ungulate species and its evolutionary history is relatively well established [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Northern areas may have acted as cryptic refugia in North-West Europe through the last glacial maximum (LGM) [9].The Bavarian-Bohemian region was identified as part of a suture zone between western and eastern European red deer matrilines [10]
The cyt b sequences of the modern Vosges red deer samples grouped into three distinct mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes, tentatively named AVc1 (n = 18), AVc2 (n = 23) and AVc3 (n = 64); four haplotypes were found in the d-loop, tentatively named AVd1 (n = 19), AVd2 (n = 19), AVd3 (n = 60) and AVd4 (n = 1)(data not shown)
Summary
Red deer (Cervus elaphus L.) is currently one of the most widespread European ungulate species and its evolutionary history is relatively well established [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Molecular studies revealed the existence of at least three distinct mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages (so called matrilines) in Europe reflecting the main refugia during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the early Late glacial (25,000–14,700 years ago) in Iberia (lineage A), the Balkan region (lineage C) and the Mediterranean (lineage B) [3, 5, 6]. Following the LGM, the Iberian lineage A) colonized the British Isles and parts of Central Europe, while the eastern lineage (haplogroup C) from the Balkans colonized south-east central Europe and the Carpathians, reaching as far north as Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Northern areas may have acted as cryptic refugia in North-West Europe through the LGM [9].The Bavarian-Bohemian region was identified as part of a suture zone between western and eastern European red deer matrilines [10]. A detailed sampling for molecular analyses is missing from other regions of Central Europe, including the region from the North of the Swiss Alps to the East of France [3, 4, 5, 9]
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