Monitoring the Genetic Structure of the Sable Population (<i>Martes zibellina</i> Linnaeus, 1758) Middle Amur Region

Abstract

Based on the analysis of microsatellite loci Ma3 and Mer041, the genetic structure of the sable population of the Middle Amur Region was monitored. Materials of hunting fees of winter seasons from 2011 to 2021 were studied. Three geographic subpopulations of sable from the Bureya Highlands and one from the eastern slopes of the Sikhote-Alin Ridge are considered. It was shown that the group of specific alleles characterizing the differences between the sable populations of the Bureya Highlands and the Sikhote-Alin is represented by four alleles. The monitoring of two microsatellite loci in the subpopulations of the Bureinsky Highlands showed a higher allelic diversity in the northern autochthonous compared to the more southern ones that arose on the basis of the settlement of the northern in the first half of the 20th century. The relative homogeneity of the population structure of the sable of the Bureinsky Highlands is shown, which does not lead to a statistically significant level of differentiation of subpopulations either in space or in time. A different character of the dynamics of allelic diversity was found in the subpopulations of the left bank (Bureya Highland) and right bank (Sikhote-Alin Ridge) of the Amur River. It has been hypothesized that temporal heterogeneity in the Sikhote-Alin subpopulation may indicate the existence on the eastern slopes of the Sikhote-Alin of a spatially heterogeneous population structure formed from descendants and possible hybrids of autochthonous and introduced forms. The influence of the anthropogenic factor on the dynamics of the genetic structure is considered.