Abstract
Red deer populations in the Iberian glacial refugium were the main source for postglacial recolonization and subspecific radiation in north-western Europe. However, the phylogenetic history of Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) and its relationships with northern European populations remain uncertain. Here, we study DNA sequences at the mitochondrial control region along with STR markers for over 680 specimens from all the main red deer populations in Spain and other west European areas. Our results from mitochondrial and genomic DNA show contrasting patterns, likely related to the nature of these types of DNA markers and their specific processes of change over time. The results, taken together, bring support to two distinct, cryptic maternal lineages for Iberian red deer that predated the last glacial maximum and that have maintained geographically well differentiated until present. Haplotype relationships show that only one of them contributed to the northern postglacial recolonization. However, allele frequencies of nuclear markers evidenced one main differentiation between Iberian and northern European subspecies although also supported the structure of both matrilines within Iberia. Thus, our findings reveal a paraphyletic nature for Iberian red deer but also its genetic identity and differentiation with respect to northern subspecies. Finally, we suggest that maintaining the singularity of Iberian red deer requires preventing not only restocking practices with red deer specimens belonging to other European populations but also translocations between both Iberian lineages.
Highlights
During the Quaternary ice ages, most of northern Europe was covered by ice, while permafrost extended through Central Europe, shaping the distribution of many temperate species to ice-free glacial refugia during the Late Pleistocene (Hewitt 2000)
Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
The lowest values of genetic diversity were found in the sampled population of C. e. elaphus (Hd = 0.255 and p 9 100 = 0.108)
Summary
During the Quaternary ice ages, most of northern Europe was covered by ice, while permafrost extended through Central Europe, shaping the distribution of many temperate species to ice-free glacial refugia during the Late Pleistocene (Hewitt 2000). Main European glacial refugia corresponded to the southern peninsulas of Iberia, Italy, and the Balkans. These three main refuges acted as sources for the postglacial recolonization of the continent for different species, carrying distinct genetic lineages as a legacy of their long isolation from each other (Taberlet et al 1998; Hewitt 1999; Torroni et al 2001; Schmitt 2007; Knopp and Meril€a 2009). The Iberian Peninsula harbors a high physiographic complexity that, in combination with concurrent Mediterranean and Atlantic influences responsible for a wide range of climates, may favor the presence of subrefugia (Gomez and Lunt 2007) and opportunities for intraspecific divergence (rev. Schmitt 2007)
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