Mapping the spatial configuration of hybridization risk for an endangered population of the European wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris) in Scotland

Kilshaw, Kerry; Montgomery, Robert A.; Campbell, Ruairidh D.; Hetherington, David; Johnson, Paul J.; Kitchener, Andrew C.; Macdonald, David W.; Millspaugh, Joshua J.

doi:10.1007/s13364-015-0253-x

Cited by 23 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…They were low to moderate in Central, Southeast and Southwest Europe. In contrast, all samples from Scotland were identified as backcross hybrids, supporting findings of previous studies that the genetic integrity of the wildcat population in Scotland is seriously compromised (Kitchener et al 2005;Kitchener and Daniels 2008;Kilshaw et al 2016;Senn et al 2018). However, since the Scottish samples were explicitly morphological hybrids, this may have biased the result.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…In the Eastern Alpine region, we detected one F1 and two backcross hybrids among 23 individuals, which are, to our knowledge, the first genetically confirmed hybrids in this area. In Scotland, we found exclusively hybrids of different classes, indicating that hybridisation has been occurring for several generations and crossbreeding between different hybrid classes (Kitchener et al 2005;Kilshaw et al 2016;Mattucci et al 2016;Senn et al 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…This may be explained by prevalent gene flow between hybrids and male domestic cats and female wildcats, but this finding needs to be confirmed on a larger sampling set. Interestingly, hybrids have been observed to occupy the same habitat as wildcats and partly the same as domestic cats (Germain et al 2008;Kilshaw et al 2016). Hence, hybrids may play a role as vectors for gene flow between both populations, accelerating admixture between both species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Domestic cats, for instance, have been detected within protected areas at a considerable distance from human settlements (e.g., Sarmento et al 2009;Zwijacz-Kozica et al 2017). Wildcats and domestic cats have also been shown to occur at the same locations, at least occasionally (Nussberger et al 2014b;Kilshaw et al 2016;Steyer et al 2016;Beutel et al 2017). We assume that habitat fragmentation may enhance the chance of encounters between wildcats and domestic cats because of the higher proportion of land being subject to an edge effect.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Range-wide patterns of human-mediated hybridisation in European wildcats

et al. 2020

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Hybridisation between wild taxa and their domestic congeners is a significant conservation issue. Domestic species frequently outnumber their wild relatives in population size and distribution and may therefore genetically swamp the native species. The European wildcat (Felis silvestris) has been shown to hybridise with domestic cats (Felis catus). Previously suggested spatially divergent introgression levels have not been confirmed on a European scale due to significant differences in the applied methods to assess hybridisation of the European wildcat. We analysed 926 Felis spp. samples from 13 European countries, using a set of 86 selected ancestry-informative SNPs, 14 microsatellites, and ten mitochondrial and Y-chromosome markers to study regional hybridisation and introgression patterns and population differentiation. We detected 51 hybrids (four F1 and 47 F2 or backcrosses) and 521 pure wildcats throughout Europe. The abundance of hybrids varied considerably among studied populations. All samples from Scotland were identified as F2 hybrids or backcrosses, supporting previous findings that the genetic integrity of that wildcat population has been seriously compromised. In other European populations, low to moderate levels of hybridisation were found, with the lowest levels being in Central and Southeast Europe. The occurrence of distinct maternal and paternal markers between wildcat and domestic cat suggests that there were no severe hybridisation episodes in the past. The overall low (< 1%) prevalence of F1 hybrids suggests a low risk of hybridisation for the long-term genetic integrity of the wildcat in most of Europe. However, regionally elevated introgression rates confirm that hybridisation poses a potential threat. We propose regional in-depth monitoring of hybridisation rates to identify factors driving hybridisation so as to develop effective strategies for conservation.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Range-wide patterns of human-mediated hybridisation in European wildcats

et al. 2020

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“…gof.test (500 replicates) within the R package AICcmodavg (Mazerolle 2016) to test for overdispersion. The relative importance of covariates (ԐAICw) was calculated for each covariate included in those models within the cumulative AIC weight of 0.95 (Kilshaw et al 2016).…”

Section: Occupancy Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%