The role of the urals in the genetic diversity of the European moose subspecies (Alces alces alces)

Evidence of post‐glacial secondary contact and subsequent anthropogenic influence on the genetic composition of Fennoscandian moose (Alces alces)

“…Indeed, the notable gradient in moose mtDNA diversity observed between Finland and the Republic of Karelia could be partly explained by post‐glacial range expansion. During the LGM, suitable moose habitat existed in the western parts of Russia and the Urals, plausibly offering multiple refugia that sustained substantial genetic diversity (Kholodova et al ., , ). The high genetic diversity and effective population size (Tables , Fig.…”

“…The existence of an eastern glacial refugium has been proposed for several European mammal species, including the field vole ( Microtus agrestis ; Jaarola & Searle, ) and the brown bear ( Ursus arctos ; Swenson et al ., ). Recolonization of northern Europe from the east also seems likely for moose given the high levels of unique genetic diversity in populations from the Ural Mountains (Kholodova et al ., ), with the presence of multiple eastern refugia indicated by the genetic differences between moose populations in Eastern Europe/Western Russia and the Urals (Fig. ; Kholodova et al ., ).…”

“…Recolonization of northern Europe from the east also seems likely for moose given the high levels of unique genetic diversity in populations from the Ural Mountains (Kholodova et al ., ), with the presence of multiple eastern refugia indicated by the genetic differences between moose populations in Eastern Europe/Western Russia and the Urals (Fig. ; Kholodova et al ., ). Owing to the contemporary absence of moose from most of continental Europe, however, we lack genetic evidence for the locations of potential southern refugia and possible recolonization routes.…”

“…Haplotypes dominant in southern parts of Finland and Karelia belong to the eastern clade (Fig. ), being common in moose from western Russia, Poland and the Urals, indicating that the refugia are likely to have been of eastern origin (Kholodova et al ., ; Niedziałkowska et al ., ). Haplotype H6, however, is restricted to Scandinavia, the northern half of Finland and the Kola Peninsula (Fig.…”

“…tcs 1.21 (Clement et al ., ) was used to draw a haplotype network, combining our data with all published sequence information (at the same mtDNA region) on Palaearctic moose (Hundertmark et al ., ; Hassanin et al ., ; Świsłocka et al ., ; Kholodova et al ., ; Niedziałkowska et al ., ). We used dnasp 5.0 (Librado & Rozas, ) to calculate p ‐distances between the two mtDNA clades detected in our data (see ) and estimated the time of divergence by applying divergence rates of 62.8% (domestic cattle, Bos taurus ; Bradley et al ., ) and 78.5% per million years (bison, Bison bonasus ; Burzyńska et al ., ).…”