Blood proteins of red deer introduced to Patagonia: genetic origins and variability

Abstract

A small group of European red deer (Cervus elaphus elaphus) was introduced into the foothills of the Andes in Patagonia in the early 1920s. This species adapted well to the habitat and climatic conditions in the area and presently may number over 100 000 animals. Several indices commonly used to evaluate the fitness of a species in its environment indicate that red deer thrive under very favourable conditions in Patagonia; for example, body size, antler development, reproductive rates, herd health, and longevity are near the maximum described for the species. Furthermore, some local populations occur at densities much higher than encountered in their native ranges. The objective was to examine several biological enzyme systems to test for variance in protein polymorphism in comparison to populations of red deer in other parts of the world. The protein systems examined by electrophoresis in the plasma included: post-transferrin, transferrin, vitamin D binding protein, plasminogen, and complement component; and in the erythrocytes: hemoglobin, superoxide dismutase, glucose phosphate isomerase, and diaphorase I. Variation in plasminogen was lower than is typical for red deer, and glucose phosphate isomerase showed no variation. Furthermore, some occurrences of alleles typical for North American wapiti (Cervus elaphus canadensis) indicate that the introduced deer originated from English or European deer parks which have had a history of introductions of wapiti in the past. In New Zealand, the superoxide dismutase allele typical for wapiti was found in 1% of red deer, whereas it occurred in 11% of animals in the present study. Polymorphism measured across the nine examined protein systems was 2.0 alleles per locus with an overall heterozygosity of 0.30. The low variations are likely the result of the introduction based on few individuals. However, the outstanding performance of the present population contradicts the existence of any overt impact from this founder effect. The observed large body sizes may not only be due to good environmental conditions, but also due to previous hybridisation with wapiti. Several specimens were heterozygous and one specimen was homozygous for wapiti hemoglobin.

Comparison of vocalisations of introduced European red deer stags (Cervus elaphus) in north-western Patagonia (Argentina) with native European populations

“…From our recordings of the vocalisations produced by red deer stags (Cervus elaphus) in the study area of Nahuel Huapi, the reproductive calls were found to be similar to their native European counterparts in that we could identify the three main vocalisations as for the deer of the Island of Rhum in Scotland McComb 2003a, 2003b). Although some red deer from Nahuel Haupi have a genetic component from wapiti (Cervus elaphus canadiensis), with the superoxide dismutase allele typical for wapiti found to occur in 11% of animals in the present study population (Flueck and Smith-Flueck 2011), these deer have roars typical of red deer. The bugle, which is the rut vocalisation characteristic of wapiti (Feighny et al 2006), was never apparent in any of the vocalisations recorded.…”

“…The results of the present study have shown that an exotic European red deer population separated from Europe for over a century has vocalisation patterns almost indistinguishable from those of the native red deer. The fact that the F0s observed in the Patagonian red deer are somewhat higher than those observed in the red deer from Rhum (Reby and McComb 2003a) may indicate a genetic influence of wapiti on the roars, given that Patagonian red deer do have some wapiti genetic markers (Flueck and Smith-Flueck 2011). Playback experiments in captive females of red deer have demonstrated that sometimes females preferred mating calls of heterospecific males (Cervus nippon) to those of conspecific males (Cervus elaphus), in spite of the acoustic and spectrographic differences between the two (Wyman et al 2011).…”

“…Besides an Austrian-Hungarian heritage, the red deer in this area have also been shown to contain genes identified specifically with North American wapiti or elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis), which would have already been present in the first red deer imported from Europe 100 years ago (Flueck and Smith-Flueck 2011). The importation of American wapiti to Europe is well documented, with individuals brought to Austria, Poland and Hungary over 250 years ago to improve trophies for sport hunting.…”

Diseases of red deer introduced to Patagonia and implications for native ungulates

“…data). FMD was tested for by SENASA in deer from Site B (n = 41) in 1994-1995, to allow export of the tissue as part of a genetic study (Flueck and Smith-Flueck 2011a); all samples were negative. Among an additional 393 specimens collected for reproductive and physical-condition studies, the only notable pathological finding was a suspected case of mycobacterial infection from Site D. We submitted fresh tissue from this specimen to INTA, but no cultivation was done.…”

“…The topography is primarily mountainous, with most features formed by glacial and volcanic processes. The study sites are between 900-m and 1800-m elevation and represent grasslands, or ecotones between forests and grasslands (details in Flueck and Smith-Flueck 2011a). We evaluated females older than 1 year, shot and collected randomly between 1991 and 2009, and radio-collared deer that died naturally between 2001 and 2009.…”