Abstract
BackgroundDespite phylogeographical patterns being well characterised in a large number of species, and generalised patterns emerging, the carnivores do not all appear to show consistent trends. While some species tend to fit with standard theoretical phylogeographic expectations (e.g. bears), others show little obvious modern phylogeographic structure (e.g. wolves). In this study we briefly review these studies, and present a new phylogeographical study of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) throughout Europe, using a combination of ancient DNA sequences obtained from museum specimens, and modern sequences collated from GenBank. We used cytochrome b (250 bp) and the mitochondrial control region (268 bp) to elucidate both current and historical phylogeographical patterning.ResultsWe found evidence for slight isolation by distance in modern populations, as well as differentiation associated with time, both of which can likely be attributed to random genetic drift. Despite high sequence diversity (11.2% cytochrome b, 16.4% control region), no evidence for spatial structure (from Bayesian trees) is found either in modern samples or ancient samples for either gene, and Bayesian skyline plots suggested little change in the effective population size over the past 40,000 years.ConclusionsIt is probable that the high dispersal ability and adaptability of the red fox has contributed to the lack of observable differentiation, which appears to have remained consistent over tens of thousands of years. Generalised patterns of how animals are thought to have responded to historical climatic change are not necessarily valid for all species, and so understanding the differences between species will be critical for predicting how species will be affected by future climatic change.
Highlights
Despite phylogeographical patterns being well characterised in a large number of species, and generalised patterns emerging, the carnivores do not all appear to show consistent trends
Sequence diversity was high within the datasets; 26 haplotypes were identified in the cytochrome b sequences, and 47 haplotypes in the control region sequences
Phylogenetic analyses The jModelTest analyses determined that the least complex model of evolution with the best fit to the cytochrome b data was the HKY model (Ti/Tv = 6.4802, unequal base frequencies freqA = 0.289, freqC = 0.231, freqG = 0.156, freqT = 0.324), and for the control region was the TIM2+G model
Summary
Despite phylogeographical patterns being well characterised in a large number of species, and generalised patterns emerging, the carnivores do not all appear to show consistent trends. Within Europe, genetic studies on terrestrial species typically find divergent clades which represent the refugial origins of the focal species during the glacial periods [3,4]. Many taxa show a deep split between Eastern and Western European clades, which likely reflects two main refugial origins in Iberia and the Italo-Balkan region [2], and generally speaking, we have a good understanding of the routes of post-glacial expansions for various terrestrial species [1,4](Hewitt, 1999, Hewitt, 2004). The swift fox, kit fox and arctic fox have been shown to have little within-species phylogeographical structuring [16,17], these species are refined to relatively small, specific habitat regions and so might not be expected to show structure within such restricted areas The swift fox, kit fox and arctic fox have been shown to have little within-species phylogeographical structuring [16,17], these species are refined to relatively small, specific habitat regions and so might not be expected to show structure within such restricted areas (see http://www. canids.org for distribution maps)
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