Abstract
Interplay between historical and current features of the cityscape in shaping the genetic structure of the house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus) in Dakar (Senegal, West Africa)
Highlights
Peer Community Journal is a member of the Centre Mersenne for Open Scientific Publishing http:// www.centre-mersenne.org/
We further investigated to which extent considering both the current features of the cityscape and historical information on the urbanization process may help to explain the spatial pattern of genetic variation of the house mouse in Dakar
For the house mouse within the Cap-Vert peninsula, the analyses of the relationships between genetic estimates and cityscape variables showed that the duration of the period elapsed since the connection of a built-up area to the first European settlement, was the most important factor to explain the spatial genetic patterns: the shorter this period, the lower the level of allelic richness and the higher the level of genetic differentiation. These results strongly suggest that the observed gradient in genetic variation mainly reflects the historical process of colonization by the house mouse, which followed the continuous expansion of the city from the first European settlement (Gardner-Santana et al, 2009; SE Harris et al, 2016; Lourenço et al, 2017)
Summary
Peer Community Journal is a member of the Centre Mersenne for Open Scientific Publishing http:// www.centre-mersenne.org/. In addition to current features, spatial genetic patterns may reflect past demographic events related to cityscape evolution during the historical timeframe of urbanization (SE Harris et al, 2016; Lourenço et al, 2017) This can be especially relevant for non-native invasive commensal rodents that were introduced in numerous primary colonial European settlements, which grew into cities during and after the period of colonial expansion (Aplin et al, 2011; Jones, Eager, et al, 2013; Puckett et al, 2016). We investigate how the interplay between the current and historical features of the cityscape of Dakar, Senegal, may have impacted the spatial pattern of genetic variation of the house mouse, Mus musculus domesticus, a major invasive rodent pest recorded in cities of all continents This subspecies from the Mus musculus complex originates from South-West Asia (Suzuki et al, 2013), and became commensal during the initial settlements of humans in the Middle East at circa 10,000 BC (Cucchi et al, 2012).
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