Western Mediterranean Populations Research Articles

Sex estimation from the navicular bone in Spanish contemporary skeletal collections

Sexual estimation is fundamental to reconstruct the biological profile of individuals, but postdepositional factors can alter the resistance of the bones, thereby preventing accurate diagnosis especially when the skull and the pelvis are absent. Navicular bones are usually well preserved in archeological and forensic contexts and can a good alternative to discriminate sex. On the basis of these aspects, the present investigation analyzed the sexual dimorphism in 231 pairs of navicular bones from documented contemporary collections from Spain. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and binary logistic regressions were carried out in eight replicable linear measurements of the navicular bone. Each of the eight variables showed a significant sexual dimorphism in our sample.The ROC curve results indicate that at least five out of the eight variables used have high ability for sex diagnosis, among which the maximum length of the cuneiform surface (LMAXCUN) showed a better performance (area under the curve value=0.86). Moreover, we introduced regression equations with combination of measurements that correctly allocated the skeletons with 80% or greater accuracy. The equation with high allocation accuracy rate (83.4%) included a combination of the maximum height of the navicular (HMAX), maximum length of the cuneiform surface (LMAXCUN), and maximum length of the talar facet (LMAXTAL). The regression equations presented here are useful for the Western Mediterranean populations and offer better alternatives than formulas based on other population groups.

Unravelling population genetic structure with mitochondrial DNA in a notional panmictic coastal crab species: sample size makes the difference.

BackgroundThe extent of genetic structure of a species is determined by the amount of current gene flow and the impact of historical and demographic factors. Most marine invertebrates have planktonic larvae and consequently wide potential dispersal, so that genetic uniformity should be common. However, phylogeographic investigations reveal that panmixia is rare in the marine realm. Phylogeographic patterns commonly coincide with geographic transitions acting as barriers to gene flow. In the Mediterranean Sea and adjoining areas, the best known barriers are the Atlantic-Mediterranean transition, the Siculo-Tunisian Strait and the boundary between Aegean and Black seas. Here, we perform the so far broadest phylogeographic analysis of the crab Pachygrapsus marmoratus, common across the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean and Black seas. Previous studies revealed no or weak genetic structuring at meso-geographic scale based on mtDNA, while genetic heterogeneity at local scale was recorded with microsatellites, even if without clear geographic patterns. Continuing the search for phylogeographic signal, we here enlarge the mtDNA dataset including 51 populations and covering most of the species’ distribution range.ResultsThis enlarged dataset provides new evidence of three genetically separable groups, corresponding to the Portuguese Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea plus Canary Islands, and Black Sea. Surprisingly, hierarchical AMOVA and Principal Coordinates Analysis agree that our Canary Islands population is closer to western Mediterranean populations than to mainland Portugal and Azores populations. Within the Mediterranean Sea, we record genetic homogeneity, suggesting that population connectivity is unaffected by the transition between the western and eastern Mediterranean. The Mediterranean metapopulation seems to have experienced a relatively recent expansion around 100,000 years ago.ConclusionsOur results suggest that the phylogeographic pattern of P. marmoratus is shaped by the geological history of Mediterranean and adjacent seas, restricted current gene flow among different marginal seas, and incomplete lineage sorting. However, they also caution from exclusively testing well-known biogeographic barriers, thereby neglecting other possible phylogeographic patterns. Mostly, this study provides evidence that a geographically exhaustive dataset is necessary to detect shallow phylogeographic structure within widespread marine species with larval dispersal, questioning all studies where species have been categorized as panmictic based on numerically and geographically limited datasets.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0720-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Role of the Egami score to predict immunoglobulin resistance in Kawasaki disease among a Western Mediterranean population.

Kawasaki disease is an acute self-limited systemic vasculitis common in childhood. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is an effective treatment, and it reduces the incidence of cardiac complications. Egami score has been validated to identify IVIG non-responder patients in Japanese population, and it has shown high sensitivity and specificity to identify these non-responder patients. Although its effectiveness in Japan, Egami score has shown to be ineffective in non-Japanese populations. The aim of this study was to apply the Egami score in a Western Mediterranean population in Catalonia (Spain). Observational population-based study that includes patients from all Pediatric Units in 33 Catalan hospitals, both public and private management, between January 2004 and March 2014. Sensitivity and specificity for the Egami score was calculated, and a logistic regression analysis of predictors of overall response to IVIG was also developed. Predicting IVIG resistance with a cutoff for Egami score ≥3 obtained 26% sensitivity and 82% specificity. Negative predictive value was 85% and positive predictive value 22%. This low sensitivity implies that three out of four non-responders will not be identified by the Egami score. Besides, logistic regression models did not found significance for the use of the Egami score to predict IVIG resistance in Catalan population although having an area under the ROC curve of 0.618 (IC 95% 0.538-0.698, p<0.001). Although regression models found an area under the ROC curve >0.5 to predict IVIG resistance, the low sensitivity excludes the Egami score as a useful tool to predict IVIG resistance in Catalan population.

When immigration mask threats: The rescue effect of a Scopoli's shearwater colony in the Western Mediterranean as a case study

Populations of long-lived species are highly sensitive to increases in mortality, but a loss of breeders can be compensated for by recruitment of local individuals or immigrants. Populations maintained through immigration can be sinks, jeopardizing the viability of the metapopulation in the long term when additive mortality from anthropogenic impacts occurs. Thus, the correct identification of whether a breeding population is maintained by local recruitment or by immigration is of special importance for conservation purposes. We developed robust population models to disentangle the importance of local recruitment and immigration in the dynamics of a Western Mediterranean population of Scopoli's shearwater Calonectris diomedea showing low adult survival but stable breeding numbers. Our results show that the shearwater population is not self-maintained but rescued by immigration: yearly immigrants recruiting in the population represents ~10–12% of total population size. We believe that this situation may be common to other Western Mediterranean populations, currently acting as sinks. We recommend urgent demographic studies at large core colonies to evaluate the global conservation status of the species.

Structure of intestinal helminth communities of the striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba, in the western Mediterranean: a long-term analysis

Structure of intestinal helminth communities of the striped dolphin, Stenella coeruleoalba, in the western Mediterranean: a long-term analysis

Automixis in Artemia: solving a century-old controversy.

Parthenogenesis (reproduction through unfertilized eggs) encompasses a variety of reproduction modes with (automixis) or without (apomixis) meiosis. Different modes of automixis have very different genetic and evolutionary consequences but can be particularly difficult to tease apart. In this study, we propose a new method to discriminate different types of automixis from population-level genetic data. We apply this method to diploid Artemia parthenogenetica, a crustacean whose reproductive mode remains controversial despite a century of intensive cytogenetic observations. We focus on A.parthenogenetica from two western Mediterranean populations. We show that they are diploid and that markers remain heterozygous in cultures maintained up to ~36 generations in the laboratory. Moreover, parallel patterns of population-wide heterozygosity levels between the two natural populations strongly support the conclusion that diploid A.parthenogenetica reproduce by automictic parthenogenesis with central fusion and low, but nonzero recombination. This settles a century-old controversy on Artemia, and, more generally, suggests that many automictic organisms harbour steep within-chromosome gradients of heterozygosity due to a transition from clonal transmission in centromere-proximal regions to a form of inbreeding similar to self-fertilization in centromere-distal regions. Such systems therefore offer a new avenue for contrasting the genomic consequences of asexuality and inbreeding.

Molecular DNA identity of the mouflon of Cyprus (Ovis orientalis ophion, Bovidae): Near Eastern origin and divergence from Western Mediterranean conspecific populations

The mouflon population of Cyprus (Ovis orientalis ophion) comprises historically preserved feral descendants of sheep domesticated during the Neolithic. We determined genetic identity of this taxon in order to elucidate its systematic placement and enforce its protection. We used 12 loci of microsatellite DNA to infer genetic relationships between the Cypriot mouflon and either long-time isolated (Corsica, Sardinia) or recently introduced (central Italy) European mouflons (O. o. musimon). We also sequenced the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) Cytochrome-b gene to infer the origin of the Cypriot mouflon including many National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) entries of European and Near Eastern conspecifics. Microsatellites disclosed net divergence between Western Mediterranean and Cypriot mouflon. The latter was included in the highly heterogeneous Near Eastern O. orientalis mtDNA group, Iran representing the most credited region as the source for its ancient introduction to Cyprus. Both international and national legislation protect the mouflon of Cyprus as a wild taxon (O. o. ophion). However, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and NCBI include the Cypriot mouflon as subspecies of its respective domestic species, the sheep (O. aries). Unfortunately, people charged with crime against protected mouflon may benefit from such taxonomic inconsistency between legislation and databases, as the latter can frustrate molecular DNA forensic outcomes. Until a definitive light can be shed on Near Eastern O. orientalis systematics, we suggest that the Cypriot mouflon should be unvaryingly referred to as O. o. ophion in order not to impair conservation in the country where it resides.

New specific bioelectrical impedance vector reference values for assessing body composition in the Italian-Spanish young adult population.

Specific bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (spBIVA) is a recently proposed technique for the analysis of body composition. The aim of this study was to apply spBIVA to a sample of Italian and Spanish young adults and to define the new bioelectrical references for this Western Mediterranean population. A sample of 440 individuals (220 from Italy, 220 from Spain; 213 men, 227 women) aged 18-30 years was considered. Anthropometric (height, weight, relaxed upper arm, waist, and calf girths) and bioelectrical (resistance, reactance; 50 kHz, 800 μA) measurements were taken. In order to verify the need for new references, specific bioelectrical values were compared to the reference values for U.S. adults and Italian elderly by tolerance ellipses and Student's t test. The mean specific bioelectrical values (resistivity, Rsp, and reactivity, Xcsp, Ohm·cm) were: Rsp (332.7 ± 41.7 Ω·cm), Xcsp (44.4 ± 6.8 Ω·cm), Zsp (335.6 ± 41.9 Ω·cm) and phase (7.6 ± 0.8°) in men; Rsp (388.6 ± 60 Ω·cm), Xcsp (43.7 ± 7.5 Ω·cm), Zsp (391.0 ± 60.3 Ω·cm) and phase (6.4 ± 0.7°) in women. Italo-Spanish bioelectrical vectors were mainly distributed (>90%) in the lower part of the tolerance ellipses for U.S. young adults, due to a shorter impedance (P < 0.001), indicative of a lower percent fat mass. Compared to Italian elders, they were mainly located in the left side (>90%), due to a higher phase (P < 0.001), indicative of higher body cell mass. These population and age-related differences indicate the need for new specific tolerance ellipses that can be used as references for assessing body composition in young adults from Western Mediterranean populations.

Genetic patterns in &lt;i&gt;Pinus nigra&lt;/i&gt; from the central Balkans inferred from plastid and mitochondrial data

J.F. Arnold, European black pine, is a typical component of Mediterranean and sub-Mediterranean coniferous forests with highly fragmentary distribution. Western Mediterranean populations of this species have been studied genetically to date, while eastern populations from the central Balkans, which are larger and more abundant, are still genetically understudied. We analyzed seven populations of representing all infraspecific taxa recognized within the central Balkans (subspecies with varieties and Đorđević; and subspecies (Lamb.) Holmboe with varieties and (Endl.) Georgescu et Ionescu), with three chloroplast microsatellites (cpDNA SSRs) and one mitochondrial (mtDNA) locus. Although our molecular data failed to support circumscription of studied infraspecific taxa, we found that genetic patterns at both genomes are in accordance with those found previously in westward populations of this species, that is – exceptionally high levels of genetic diversity ( = 0.949) and low genetic differentiation ( = 0.024) at the cpDNA level, and moderate levels of genetic diversity ( = 0.357) and genetic differentiation ( = 0.358) at the mtDNA level. Based on genealogical relations of mtDNA types currently present in Balkans’ and Iberian/African populations, we inferred that the ancestral gene pool of already harbored polymorphism at position 328 prior to the divergence to two lineages currently present in westward and eastward parts of the species range distribution. Subsequent occurrence of three mutations, which distinguish these two lineages, suggests their long-term isolation.Pinus nigraP. nigranigranigragocensis pallasianapallasianabanaticaHTGSTHTGSTP. nigra

Genetic analysis of 12 X-chromosome STRs in Western Mediterranean populations.

Haplotype and allele frequencies of 12 X-STRs included in the Investigator Argus X-12 kit are reported for 255 individuals, representing four Western Mediterranean populations: Valencia (eastern mainland Spain) and the Balearic Islands (Majorca, Minorca, and Ibiza). Ibiza shows the lowest intra-population variability and the highest level of linkage disequilibrium together with an important genetic distance with regard to the geographically close populations, which is consistent with the historical evidence for long-term demographic isolation and its different matrilineal background.

West versus East Mediterranean Sea: origin and genetic differentiation of the sea cucumber Holothuria polii

AbstractWe studied the genetic structure of the sea cucumber Holothuria (Roweothuria) polii (Delle Chiaje 1823) by analysing the mitochondrial DNA variation in two fragments of cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and 16S genes. Individuals were collected in seven locations along the Mediterranean Sea, which cover a wide range of the species distribution. We found high haplotype diversity for COI and moderate diversity for 16S, and low nucleotide diversity for both genes. Our results for the COI gene showed many recent and exclusive haplotypes with few mutational changes, suggesting recent or ongoing population expansion. The Western and Eastern Mediterranean populations exhibited slight but significant genetic differentiation (COI gene) with higher genetic diversity in the East. The most ancient haplotype was not present in the westernmost sampling location (SE Spain). The oldest expansion time was observed in Turkey, corresponding to mid‐Pleistocene. Turkey had also the highest genetic diversity (number of total and exclusive haplotypes, polymorphisms, haplotype and nucleotide diversity). This suggests that this region could be the origin of the subsequent colonizations through the Mediterranean Sea, a hypothesis that should be assessed with nuclear markers in future research.

Effects of parental reproductive behavior on offspring sex ratio in a pre-industrial western Mediterranean population (La Alpujarra, 1900-1950, SE Spain).

The reproductive behavior of parents of La Alpujarra (Spain) favorable to male offspring during the first half of the 20th century has been studied is this paper. The family size increased as daughters accumulated because mothers had more pregnancies in order to have higher male offspring, and the reproductive rhythm increased (birth interval decreased) when the first deliveries were only daughters. Although male mortality was higher than female in children older than one year, this reproductive behavior did not determine sex reversal of mortality in babies of between one month and one year, contrary to other developing populations.

Living on the Edge: Demography of the Slender-Billed Gull in the Western Mediterranean

Small and peripheral populations are typically vulnerable to local extinction processes but important for the metapopulation dynamics of species. The Slender-billed gull (Chroicocephalus genei) is a long-lived species breeding in unstable ephemeral coastal habitats. Their Western Mediterranean populations are relatively small and represent the edge of their global geographical distribution. At a local scale, using long-term data (14 years) on annual breeding success and capture-resights of marked individuals, we estimated and compared the vital rates and evaluated the connectivity of two Spanish populations (Ebro Delta and Doñana) varying in their local environmental conditions. At a metapopulation scale, we analyzed 22 years of data on breeding numbers to predict their future prospects by means of population demographic models. Local survival and breeding success of gulls from the Ebro Delta was lower than those from Doñana, which is likely the result of higher permanent emigration and/or winter mortality in the former. Gulls from the Ebro Delta wintered mostly in Mediterranean areas whereas those from Doñana did so in Atlantic coasts, where food availability is higher. Whereas adult local survival was constant, juvenile local survival showed temporal parallel variations between colonies, probably related to natal dispersal to other breeding colonies. Our results suggested that dispersal was higher at the Ebro Delta and gulls emigrating from their natal colonies settled preferentially in close patches. We found large fluctuations in breeding numbers among local populations probably related to the fact that the Slender-billed gull is a species adapted to unstable and unpredictable habitats with high abilities to disperse between suitable patches depending on environmental stochastic conditions during breeding.

PW01-020 – MEFV mutations carrier rate in Central Europe

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autosomal-recessive disorder characterized by recurrent attacks of fever and serositis common in eastern Mediterranean population. Over 160 mutations have been identified in MEFV gene responsible for FMF. The most common mutations in MEFV gene are E148Q, M694I, M694V, V726A and M680I. The distribution pattern of MEFV mutation along the Mediterranean Sea is not uniform; eastern populations have the highest number of carriers (20-39%), whereas western Mediterranean populations are practically unaffected.

Spatial principal component analysis points at global genetic structure in the Western Mediterranean

Many studies have tackled the existence of a genetic barrier in the Strait of Gibraltar between Iberian and North African populations, often with controversial conclusions. Here, we address this issue using a collection of Western Mediterranean populations and two dimensionality reduction methods: principal component analysis (PCA) and spatial PCA (sPCA). Our four different data sets consisted of (i) 16 polymorphic Alu insertions in 12 populations; (ii) 35 single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 13 populations; (iii) 13 short tandem repeats in 11 populations; and (iv) all 64 markers in 9 populations. In all PCA plots, South European and North African samples were visually distinguishable along the first PC. Several smaller clusters were also identifiable, especially on the African side of our geographical setting. sPCA indicated a single global structure for each of the marker sets and no local structures. These results are more compatible with a clinal distribution of allele frequencies rather than with abrupt changes, suggesting that isolation-by-distance, rather than a barrier to gene flow, is a more likely mechanism of genetic differentiation in the Western Mediterranean. An alternative/complementary explanation is progressive introgression from North African to Southwestern European populations.

MORPHOLOGICAL AND GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN THE IBERIAN AND THE OTHER WEST MEDITERRANEAN DISCOGLOSSUS SPECIES (AMPHIBIA SALIENTIA DISCOGLOSSIDAE)

SUMMARY Further data are reported on morphological and genetic differentiation among western Mediterranean populations of Discoglossus (Amphibia Salientia Discoglossidae). A new species is described from the Iberian Peninsula: D. galganoi n.sp., and its genetic divergence from the other Discoglossus taxa is analyzed. In spite of being morphologically similar, D. galganoi and D. pictus are genetically much differentiated: as many as 12 out of the 35 loci electrophoretically tested show distinct alleles in the two species. This allows an easy identification of larvae and adults, both males and females, of D. galganoi and D. pictus, as well as of the other west Mediterranean Discoglossus species, by means of biochemical keys. Two of such keys, based respectively on the loci lactate dehydrogenase-1 (Ldh-1) and adenosine deaminase (Ada) are reported. An attempt is made to estimate the time of evolutionary divergence between the taxa from their genetic distance using both NEI'S formula (1975) and SARICH'S calib...

Testes development and maturity classification of albacore (Thunnus alalunga ( Bonaterre, 1788)) from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea

Summary The criteria of testicular maturity during the spawning season and for maturity rates are described according to age for 140 male albacore (Thunnus alalunga, Bonnaterre, 1788) sampled between April and August, 2002–2008 in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. Histology of gonad samples was used to determine maturity status. Spermatogenesis and its relation to reproductive biology are reported. Fish ranged in fork length (FL) from 63 to 90 cm. The reproductive classes were based upon changes in the testicular morphology and stages of the germinative cells, i.e. immature, developing, maturing, spawning, and spent. Mature stages of testes including the smallest sample of a 63 cm male were observed from May to August of each year during the study. The reported evidence indicates that the size and age of first sexual maturity values of males of the Eastern Mediterranean population are nearly the same as in the Western Mediterranean population, but lower than in the Atlantic stock. The results of this histological investigation, conducted for the first time on this species in the Mediterranean Sea, will enable more precise future estimations for sustainability of the male albacore stock in the Eastern Mediterranean.

AB0025 Prevalence of MEFV gene mutations in apparently healthy populations in balkan and central european countries

BackgroundFamilial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is an autosomal-recessive disorder characterized by recurrent attacks of fever and serositis. It is common in eastern Mediterranean population. There are only few FMF patients in...

Identifying refugia from climate change using coupled ecological and genetic data in a transitional Mediterranean‐temperate tree species

Populations occurring in areas of overlap between the current and future distribution of a species are particularly important because they can represent "refugia from climate change". We coupled ecological and range-wide genetic variation data to detect such areas and to evaluate the impacts of habitat suitability changes on the genetic diversity of the transitional Mediterranean-temperate tree Fraxinus angustifolia. We sampled and genotyped 38 natural populations comprising 1006 individuals from across Europe. We found the highest genetic diversity in western and northern Mediterranean populations, as well as a significant west to east decline in genetic diversity. Areas of potential refugia that correspond to approximately 70% of the suitable habitat may support the persistence of more than 90% of the total number of alleles in the future. Moreover, based on correlations between Bayesian genetic assignment and climate, climate change may favour the westward spread of the Black Sea gene pool in the long term. Overall, our results suggest that the northerly core areas of the current distribution contain the most important part of the genetic variation for this species and may serve as in situ macrorefugia from ongoing climate change. However, rear-edge populations of the southern Mediterranean may be exposed to a potential loss of unique genetic diversity owing to habitat suitability changes unless populations can persist in microrefugia that have facilitated such persistence in the past.

Mariculture for bacterial and organic waste removal: a field study of sponge filtering activity in experimental farming

Culture experiments in the field were performed on western Mediterranean populations of Ircinia variabilis and Agelas oroides. To evaluate culture and filtering performances among polluted and unpolluted sites in shallow waters, farming experiments were carried out in a harbour, a small tourist nautical base and a pristine biotope. Sponge explants were cultured onto nylon ropes, and in situ clearance rate tests were performed on farmed sponges to assess filtering ability under diverse farming conditions. At the harbour site, sponge survival and growth were similar to that observed in the two unpolluted sites until early summer, when a rapid increase in explant mortality occurred in response to extreme variations in environmental conditions. Filtering experiments revealed high retention and clearance rates of I. variabilis and A. oroides at all sites. The highest rates were observed at the polluted site, reflecting the optimal metabolic performance of explants in the first phase of culture under stressful conditions. Our results highlight the feasibility of sponge microcosms and the ability of I. variabilis and A. oroides to clear large volumes of water of organic and bacterial loads in polluted sites.