Pan‐European phylogeography of the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)

Abstract

Climate fluctuations during the Last Glacial Period between 115,000 and 11,500 years ago (Lokrantz & Sohlenius, 2006) played an important role in shaping the current species composition, distribution, and genetic diversity of mammals in Europe. During glaciations, the ranges of cold sensitive species were limited to refugial areas located in the Balkan, the Iberian and the Apennine Peninsulas (Hewitt, 2004;Taberlet et al., 1998) and south-eastern part of the continent (the Black Sea region and the Caucasus Mts.; Markova & Puzachenko, 2019). Contribution of a given refugium into postglacial recolonization processes varied a lot among species such as, for example, red deer Cervus elaphus (Niedziałkowska, Doan, et al., 2021), wild boar Sus scrofa (Niedziałkowska, Tarnowska, et al., 2021), or common vole Microtus arvalis (Stojak et al., 2015). Cold-adapted species such as, for example, reindeer Rangifer tarandus (Sommer et al., 2014), saiga antelope Saiga tatarica (Nadachowski et al., 2016), or arctic fox Alopex lagopus (Dalén et al., 2007), thrived in the glacial stages, expanded their ranges southward, and during the onset of interglacial they underwent massive, large-scale extinctions. Species of mammals that have very broad biogeographic niche (from the Mediterranean to the boreal zone) had more diverse response to geological time-scale pulsation of climate, most likely with several glacial refugia located at both lower and higher latitudes, where subpopulations diverged into different lineages and could have developed adaptations to different climate, habitat, and food-related conditions. Examples of such species include the bank vole Clethrionomys glareolus (Tarnowska et al.,

SNP panel for evaluation of genetic variability and relationship in roe deer ( Capreolus capreolus)

“…The European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) is one of the most abundant wild ungulates and an important hunting species that is distributed across the European continent from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia (Apollonio et al 2010, Plis et al 2022. Evaluation of genetic diversity, parentage testing and animal identification are essential for the protection and efficient management of animal populations.…”

Phylogeography of the Siberian roe deer in Eurasia and origin of the Siberian mtDNA lineage in European roe deer populations

“…The studies on karyotypes showed that all populations of the European roe deer have the same chromosome set: 2n = 70, whereas all populations of the Siberian roe deer are characterized by the presence of one or more microchromosomes belonging to a group of ancestral chromosomes known as B-chromosomes: 2n = 70 + (1--14) (Danilkin, 1995). Various studies using mitochondrial and microsatellite markers in European roe deer populations revealed a geographic pattern in the population structure, with generally high levels of genetic variation and traces of introgression between Siberian and European roe deer on large areas of Central and Eastern Europe: in Finland, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania and Russia (Kashinina et al, 2018;Lorenzini et al, 2014;Markov et al, 2016;Matosiuk et al, 2014;Olano-Marin et al, 2014;Plakhina et al, 2014;Plis et al, 2022). One of the reason could have been the interbreeding of the two species in the past, when their ranges overlapped to a large extent (Matosiuk et al, 2014).…”

“…In this study, we investigated the mitochondrial DNA variability of Siberian roe deer throughout Asia as well as in the European regions, where the introgression between C. capreolus and C. pygargus had been recorded (Kashinina et Plis et al, 2022). We aimed to identify the general phylogenetic and phylogeographic patterns of the Siberian roe deer in its entire range of occurrence and, secondly, to elucidate the phylogeny of those Siberian haplotypes which were found within the European range of roe deer.…”

“…We analysed the overall geographical distribution of the Siberian roe deer haplotypes found in the populations of the European roe deer (the Siberian clade of C. capreolus; seePlis et al, 2022). Five haplogroups of the Siberian roe deer (A, B, C, E, F) were found to have had introgressed into C. capreolus populations in Eastern Europe (Figs.5, S2 and S3…”

Genetic diversity and complex structure of the European Roe Deer population at a continental scale

“…Not many studies have investigated the genetic diversity of European Roe Deer at a continental scale, and all have focused on maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA; Lorenzini et al 2014;Plis et al 2022aPlis et al , 2022b. To date, nuclear DNA (such as microsatellite DNA) of the species was studied only at the local or regional level (e.g.…”