Abstract
The comeback of the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) throughout western and central Europe is considered a major conservation success. Traditionally, several subspecies are recognised by morphology and mitochondrial haplotype, each linked to a relict population. During various reintroduction programs in the 20th century, beavers from multiple source localities were released and now form viable populations. These programs differed in their reintroduction strategies, i.e., using pure subspecies vs. mixed source populations. This inhomogeneity in management actions generated ongoing debates regarding the origin of present beaver populations and appropriate management plans for the future. By sequencing of the mitochondrial control region and microsatellite genotyping of 235 beaver individuals from five selected regions in Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Belgium we show that beavers from at least four source origins currently form admixed, genetically diverse populations that spread across the study region. While regional occurrences of invasive North American beavers (n = 20) were found, all but one C. fiber bore the mitochondrial haplotype of the autochthonous western Evolutionary Significant Unit (ESU). Considering this, as well as the viability of admixed populations and the fact that the fusion of different lineages is already progressing in all studied regions, we argue that admixture between different beaver source populations should be generally accepted.
Highlights
After massive population bottlenecks and regional extinctions through active human persecution until the early 20th century several large and medium-sized mammals such as brown bear, lynx, wolf, wisent, or beaver currently show a stunning comeback throughout Western and Central Europe [1,2]
Mitochondrial Haplotype Analysis Sequencing of 57 hair samples and 178 tissue samples yielded eight control region (CR) haplotypes
Mitochondrial DNA and Evolutionary Significant Units The ESU is a fundamental concept in conservation biology
Summary
After massive population bottlenecks and regional extinctions through active human persecution until the early 20th century several large and medium-sized mammals such as brown bear, lynx, wolf, wisent, or beaver currently show a stunning comeback throughout Western and Central Europe [1,2]. In Central Europe, for instance, reintroduction projects were initiated during the 20th century for numerous large mammal species [3,4,5,6]. Several of these projects proved successful and restocked formerly unoccupied areas. For some species such as Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber Linneaus 1758), the high success rates of reintroductions, even with low founder numbers, led to a ‘‘reintroduction boom’’, with projects occurring across Germany as well as neighbouring regions
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