Abstract
In the Carpathian Basin the wild boar (Sus scrofa) belongs among the most important game species both ecologically and economically, therefore knowing more about the basics of the genetics of the species is a key factor for accurate and sustainable management of its population. The aim of this study was to estimate the genetic diversity and to elucidate the genetic structure and location of wild boar populations in the Carpathian Basin. A total of 486 samples were collected and genotyped using 13 STR markers. The number of alleles varied between 4 and 14, at 9 of the 13 loci the observed heterozygosity was significantly different (p < 0.05) from the expected value, showing remarkable introgression in the population. The population was separated into two groups, with an Fst value of 0.03, suggesting the presence of two subpopulations. The first group included 147 individuals from the north-eastern part of Hungary, whereas the second group included 339 samples collected west and south of the first group. The two subpopulations’ genetic indices are roughly similar. The lack of physical barriers between the two groups indicates that the genetic difference is most likely caused by the high reproduction rate and large home range of the wild boars, or by some genetic traces’ having been preserved from both the last ice age and the period before the Hungarian water regulation.
Highlights
The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is one of the most common big game species in Europe and worldwide.The origin of the species lives in East Asia, where the wild boar was separated from its closest relatives (Sus verrucosus) some 0.9–0.5 million years ago
Our extensive sampling and the higher number of STR markers used resulted in 486 individual multilocus genotypes of wild boars across the Carpathian Basin
The average allele numbers determined in Bulgaria and Germany based on 10 markers were 12 and 7.5, respectively [30]
Summary
The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is one of the most common big game species in Europe and worldwide.The origin of the species lives in East Asia, where the wild boar was separated from its closest relatives (Sus verrucosus) some 0.9–0.5 million years ago. The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is one of the most common big game species in Europe and worldwide. When the ice age ended, these species rapidly recolonized the neighbouring areas and nowadays wild boars are widely distributed across Europe, Asia and Northern Africa [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Their population size has rapidly increased since the 19600 s: in Europe the 5-year growth rate varied between 1.40 and 1.73 from 1990 to 2010.
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