PLoS One. 2019 Jan 8;14(1):e0210282. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210282. eCollection 2019.
Queirós J1,2,3, Acevedo P1,3, Santos JPV3,4, Barasona J3, Beltran-Beck B3, González-Barrio D3, Armenteros JA3, Diez-Delgado I3, Boadella M3,5, Fernandéz de Mera I3, Ruiz-Fons JF3, Vicente J3, de la Fuente J3,6, Gortázar C3, Searle JB1,2,7, Alves PC1,2,8.
Author information
- 1
- Centro de Investigacão em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos (CIBIO)/InBio Laboratório Associado, Universidade do Porto, R. Monte-Crasto, Vairão, Portugal.
- 2
- Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto (FCUP), Porto, Portugal.
- 3
- SaBio Research Group, Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos IREC (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ronda de Toledo s/n, Ciudad Real, Spain.
- 4
- Departamento de Biologia & CESAM, Universidade de Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.
- 5
- SABIOtec. Ed. Polivalente UCLM, Ciudad Real, Spain.
- 6
- Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Center for Veterinary Health Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, United States of America.
- 7
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States of America.
- 8
- Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, United States of America.
Abstract
The red deer (Cervus elaphus) is a widespread wild ungulate in Europe that has suffered strong anthropogenic impacts over their distribution during the last centuries, but also at the present time, due its economic importance as a game species. Here we focus on the evolutionary history of the red deer in Iberia, one of the three main southern refugial areas for temperate species in Europe, and addressed the hypothesis of a cryptic refugia at higher latitudes during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). A total of 911 individuals were sampled, genotyped for 34 microsatellites specifically developed for red deer and sequenced for a fragment of 670 bp of the mitochondrial (mtDNA) D-loop. The results were combined with published mtDNA sequences, and integrated with species distribution models and historical European paleo-distribution data, in order to further examine the alternative glacial refugial models and the influence of cryptic refugia on European postglacial colonization history. Clear genetic differentiation between Iberian and European contemporary populations was observed at nuclear and mtDNA levels, despite the mtDNA haplotypes central to the phylogenetic network are present across western Europe (including Iberia) suggesting a panmictic population in the past. Species distribution models, fossil records and genetic data support a timing of divergence between Iberian and European populations that overlap with the LGM. A notable population structure was also found within the Iberian Peninsula, although several populations displayed high levels of admixture as a consequence of recent red deer translocations. Five D-loop sub-lineages were found in Iberia that belong to the Western European mtDNA lineage, while there were four main clusters based on analysis of nuclear markers. Regarding glacial refugial models, our findings provide detailed support for the hypothesis that red deer may have persisted in cryptic northern refugia in western Europe during the LGM, most likely in southern France, southern Ireland, or in a region between them (continental shelf), and these regions were the source of individuals during the European re-colonization. This evidence heightens the importance of conserving the high mitochondrial and nuclear diversity currently observed in Iberian populations.
