Abstract
Simple SummaryThe American mink (Neovison vison) is one of the best-known and most widespread invasive species in China and worldwide. To investigate the genetic characteristics and increase comprehension of the invasiveness process for this species, we compared the genetic characteristics of farmed and feral populations in northeastern China using mitochondrial DNA sequences and microsatellite loci. We found a relatively high diversity among the feral populations that was as high as that of the farmed mink. This demonstrated that high genetic diversity promotes the invasiveness and rapid evolution in the wild.Genetic characteristics play an important role in alien species for achieving high adaptation and rapid evolution in a new environment. The American mink (Neovison vison) is one of the best-known and most widespread invasive species that has successfully invaded the Eurasian mainland over quite a short period, including most parts of northeastern China. However, genetic information on farmed and feral American mink populations introduced in China is completely lacking. In this study, we combined mitochondrial DNA sequences and polymorphic microsatellites to examine the genetic divergence and genetic diversity of farmed and feral American mink populations. Our results suggest that there is admixture of individuals of different genetic characteristics between farmed and feral populations of mink. Furthermore, the genetic diversity of both farmed and feral American mink populations was high, and no bottleneck or population expansion was detected in most of the populations. These findings not only highlight the genetic characteristics of American mink in northeastern China but also contribute to the general understanding of the invasiveness of farmed species.
Highlights
Introduction iationsGenetic characteristics play an important role in alien species occupying new environments and expanding their distributions [1,2,3]
We found that the farmed and feral mink populations in northeastern China could be divided into two genetic clusters
Our results show that feral mink in northeastern China exhibits moderate to high genetic diversity
Summary
Introduction iationsGenetic characteristics play an important role in alien species occupying new environments and expanding their distributions [1,2,3]. Introduced populations are founded by a limited number of individuals, and natural selection and genetic drift will result in lower genetic variation than in native populations [4,5,6]. Observations of some alien species invasions have shown evidence of introduced populations without reduced genetic variability [3,5,7,8]. It is possible that genetic diversity in introduced populations is not lost when large numbers of animals are present or multiple introductions occur (propagule pressure) [9,10]. The American mink (Neovison vison), a semi-aquatic species of mustelid endemic to North America, was brought to Europe, Asia, and South America for fur farming operations. In Europe, the American mink was first introduced as a furbearer via Russia in Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland
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