Microevolution of sympatry: landscape genetics of hedgehogs Erinaceus europaeus and E. roumanicus in Central Europe

Abstract

We used the mitochondrial control region and nuclear microsatellites to assess the distribution patterns, population structure, demography and landscape genetics for the hedgehogs Erinaceus europaeus and Erinaceus roumanicus in a transect of the mid-European zone of sympatry. E. roumanicus was less frequent and restricted to regions with lower altitudes. Demographic analyses suggested recent population growth in this species. A comparison of patterns in the spatial variability of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA indicated less sex-biased dispersal and higher levels of gene flow in E. roumanicus. No evidence of recent hybridisation or introgression was detected. We interpreted these results by comparing with phylogeographic and palaeontological studies as well as with the occurrence of hybridisation in the Russian contact zone. We propose that Central Europe was colonised by E. roumanicus by the beginning of the Neolithic period and that there was a subsequent reinforcement stage as well as the formation of a zone of sympatry after the complete reproductive isolation of both species.

Mitochondrial genetic diversity and structuring of northernwhite-breasted hedgehogs from the Central Balkans

“…The nucleotide diversity revealed in this study was similar to that determined in the previous study by Seddon et al (2001), which was based on the analysis of mitotypes consisting of a partial control region and cytochrome b sequences of 22 individuals from Turkish Thrace and Greece, northward through Austria and Hungary to Estonia. In comparison with the genetic diversity of central Europe (Bolfíková and Hulva, 2012), E. roumanicus from the Balkans showed higher genetic diversity indices. In the study of E. roumanicus individuals predominantly from the Czech and Slovak republics, haplotype and nucleotide diversity were 0.289 ± 0.077 and 0.00182, respectively (Bolfíková and Hulva, 2012).…”

“…Having in mind the recent problematic taxonomic situation of E. concolor vs. E. roumanicus, but also in order to complement an already proposed phylogeographic scenario for E. roumanicus, obtained sequences in this study were combined with all available E. roumanicus and E. concolor sequences present in GenBank (Seddon et al, 2001(Seddon et al, , 2002Bolfíková and Hulva, 2012) (see Supplementary Table S1). For each of those downloaded haplotype sequences, respective numbers of individuals per haplotype were taken from the original reference.…”

“…Previous studies were mostly based on wide samples from central and eastern Europe (Seddon et al, 2001(Seddon et al, , 2002Bolfíková and Hulva, 2012), and even though these studies did include some samples from the Balkan countries, there were no hedgehog specimens from the Central Balkan region. In response to ever-increasing anthropogenic changes to natural ecosystems, genetic monitoring through the usage of different molecular markers is the best estimator of natural populations' sustainability, since genetic variability underpins populations' long-term potential for survival and adaptation (Palsbøll et al, 2007;Schwartz et al, 2007).…”

“…A deep split between hedgehogs and their eastwest and north-south subdivisions based on genetic data (Santucci et al, 1998;Suchentrunk et al, 1998;Seddon et al, 2001Seddon et al, , 2002 suggests the strong effects of climate on the current distribution of their genetic variation and indicates different refugia history and expansion patterns (Berggren et al, 2005). The Balkans has been identified as the most likely refugium of E. roumanicus (Seddon et al, 2002;Bolfíková and Hulva, 2012). The northward expansion route of E. roumanicus from the Balkans into central Europe followed a pattern of vegetation expansion; however, previous studies found a slightly divergent lineage in Austria, Hungary, and western Russia, which indicated that there may have been more than one route from the Balkans to the north (Seddon et al, 2002).…”

“…In the western Palearctic, the genus Erinaceus is currently represented by three species: the west European hedgehog (E. europaeus) distributed in western Europe, the northern white-breasted hedgehog (E. roumanicus) distributed in eastern Europe and Ponto-Mediterranean regions, and the southern white-breasted hedgehog (E. concolor) distributed in Asia Minor and the Levant (Hutterer, 2005;Bolfíková and Hulva, 2012). In the scientific literature, until recently, E. roumanicus was listed mostly as E. concolor (Sommer, 2007).…”