The level of habitat patchiness influences movement strategy of moose in Eastern Poland.

Spatio-temporal variation in resource availability leads to a variety of animal movement strategies. In the case of ungulates, temporally unpredictable landscapes are associated with nomadism, while high predictability in the resource distribution favours migratory or sedentary behaviours depending on the spatial and temporal scale of landscape dynamics. As most of the surveys on moose (Alces alces) movement behaviours in Europe have been conducted on Scandinavian populations, little is known about the movement strategies of moose at the southern edge of the species' range.

Ungulate management in European national parks: Why a more integrated European policy is needed.

1. Primary objectives of national parks usually include both, the protection of natural processes and species conservation. When these objectives conflict, as occurs because of the cascading effects of large mammals (i.

Were ancient foxes far more carnivorous than recent ones?-Carnassial morphological evidence.

Crown shape variation of the first lower molar in the arctic (Vulpes lagopus) and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) was analyzed using five groups of morphotypes. Carnassial morphologies were compared between the species and between spatially and temporally distant populations: one Late Pleistocene (n = 45) and seven modern populations of the arctic fox (n = 259), and one Late Pleistocene (n = 35) and eight modern populations of the red fox (n = 606). The dentition of Holocene red foxes had larger morphotype variability than that of arctic foxes.

Genome-wide profiles indicate wolf population connectivity within the eastern Carpathian Mountains.

The Carpathian Mountains provide critical wildlife habitat in central Europe, and previous genome-wide studies have found western Carpathian Mountain wolves (Canis lupus) to be a separate population. Whereas differentiation to the north may be explained by a lowland-mountain transition and habitat fragmentation, the eastern Carpathian Mountains extending through Romania appear to offer continuous wildlife habitat southward. Our objective was to assess gene flow patterns and population connectivity among wolves in Romania, western Ukraine, and the Republic of Moldova.

Penis size and sperm quality, are all bats grey in the dark?

Penises play a key role in sperm transport and in stimulating female genitals. This should impact post-copulatory competition, and expose penis characteristics to sexual selective pressures. Studies of male genitalia have repeatedly reported negative static allometries, which mean that, within species, large males have disproportionally small genitals when compared with smaller individuals.

Implications of shared predation for space use in two sympatric leporids.

Spatial variation in habitat riskiness has a major influence on the predator-prey space race. However, the outcome of this race can be modulated if prey shares enemies with fellow prey (i.e.

Regional and local patterns of genetic variation and structure in yellow-necked mice - the roles of geographic distance, population abundance, and winter severity.

The goal of this study, conducted in seven large woodlands and three areas with small woodlots in northeastern Poland in 2004-2008, was to infer genetic structure in yellow-necked mouse population and to evaluate the roles of environmental and population ecology variables in shaping the spatial pattern of genetic variation using 768 samples genotyped at 13 microsatellite loci. Genetic variation was very high in all studied regions. The primal genetic subdivision was observed between the northern and the southern parts of the study area, which harbored two major clusters and the intermediate area of highly admixed individuals.

Widespread, long-term admixture between grey wolves and domestic dogs across Eurasia and its implications for the conservation status of hybrids.

Hybridisation between a domesticated species and its wild ancestor is an important conservation problem, especially if it results in the introgression of domestic gene variants into wild species. Nevertheless, the legal status of hybrids remains unregulated, partially because of the limited understanding of the hybridisation process and its consequences. The occurrence of hybridisation between grey wolves and domestic dogs is well documented from different parts of the wolf geographic range, but little is known about the frequency of hybridisation events, their causes and the genetic impact on wolf populations.

Pervasive introgression facilitated domestication and adaptation in the Bos species complex.

Species of the Bos genus, including taurine cattle, zebu, gayal, gaur, banteng, yak, wisent and bison, have been domesticated at least four times and have been an important source of meat, milk and power for many human cultures. We sequence the genomes of gayal, gaur, banteng, wisent and bison, and provide population genomic sequencing of an additional 98 individuals. We use these data to determine the phylogeny and evolutionary history of these species and show that the threatened gayal is an independent species or subspecies.

Erratum: Phylogeography of the Tyrrhenian red deer (Cervus elaphus corsicanus) resolved using ancient DNA of radiocarbon-dated subfossils.

A corarection to this Article has been published and is linked from the HTML version of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper.

Phylogeography of the Tyrrhenian red deer (Cervus elaphus corsicanus) resolved using ancient DNA of radiocarbon-dated subfossils.

We present ancient mitochondrial DNA analyses of 31 complete cytochrome b gene sequences from subfossil red deer remains from the Tyrrhenian islands (Corsica and Sardinia) and mainland Italy in a European-wide phylogeographic framework. Tyrrhenian and North African red deer, both going back to human introductions, were previously the only red deer to harbour the mitochondrial B lineage whose origin, however, remained unknown. Our ancient Italian samples from the central part of the peninsula that were radiocarbon-dated to an age of ca.

Combining phylogenetic and demographic inferences to assess the origin of the genetic diversity in an isolated wolf population.

The survival of isolated small populations is threatened by both demographic and genetic factors. Large carnivores declined for centuries in most of Europe due to habitat changes, overhunting of their natural prey and direct persecution. However, the current rewilding trends are driving many carnivore populations to expand again, possibly reverting the erosion of their genetic diversity.

Complex Admixture Preceded and Followed the Extinction of Wisent in the Wild.

Retracing complex population processes that precede extreme bottlenecks may be impossible using data from living individuals. The wisent (Bison bonasus), Europe's largest terrestrial mammal, exemplifies such a population history, having gone extinct in the wild but subsequently restored by captive breeding efforts. Using low coverage genomic data from modern and historical individuals, we investigate population processes occurring before and after this extinction.

Novel Graphical Analyses of Runs of Homozygosity among Species and Livestock Breeds.

Runs of homozygosity (ROH), uninterrupted stretches of homozygous genotypes resulting from parents transmitting identical haplotypes to their offspring, have emerged as informative genome-wide estimates of autozygosity (inbreeding). We used genomic profiles based on 698 K single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from nine breeds of domestic cattle () and the European bison () to investigate how ROH distributions can be compared within and among species. We focused on two length classes: 0.

Past climate changes, population dynamics and the origin of Bison in Europe.

Background: Climatic and environmental fluctuations as well as anthropogenic pressure have led to the extinction of much of Europe's megafauna. The European bison or wisent (Bison bonasus), one of the last wild European large mammals, narrowly escaped extinction at the onset of the 20th century owing to hunting and habitat fragmentation. Little is known, however, about its origin, evolutionary history and population dynamics during the Pleistocene.

Wolf population genetics in Europe: a systematic review, meta-analysis and suggestions for conservation and management.

The grey wolf (Canis lupus) is an iconic large carnivore that has increasingly been recognized as an apex predator with intrinsic value and a keystone species. However, wolves have also long represented a primary source of human-carnivore conflict, which has led to long-term persecution of wolves, resulting in a significant decrease in their numbers, genetic diversity and gene flow between populations. For more effective protection and management of wolf populations in Europe, robust scientific evidence is crucial.

Population structure of honey bees in the Carpathian Basin (Hungary) confirms introgression from surrounding subspecies.

Carniolan honey bees (Apis mellifera carnica) are considered as an indigenous subspecies in Hungary adapted to most of the ecological and climatic conditions in this area. However, during the last decades Hungarian beekeepers have recognized morphological signs of the Italian honey bee (Apis mellifera ligustica). As the natural distribution of the honey bee subspecies can be affected by the importation of honey bee queens or by natural gene flow, we aimed at determining the genetic structure and characteristics of the local honey bee population using molecular markers.

Genome-wide analyses suggest parallel selection for universal traits may eclipse local environmental selection in a highly mobile carnivore.

Ecological and environmental heterogeneity can produce genetic differentiation in highly mobile species. Accordingly, local adaptation may be expected across comparatively short distances in the presence of marked environmental gradients. Within the European continent, wolves (Canis lupus) exhibit distinct north-south population differentiation.

European bison as a refugee species? Evidence from isotopic data on Early Holocene bison and other large herbivores in northern Europe.

According to the refugee species concept, increasing replacement of open steppe by forest cover after the last glacial period and human pressure had together forced European bison (Bison bonasus)--the largest extant terrestrial mammal of Europe--into forests as a refuge habitat. The consequent decreased fitness and population density led to the gradual extinction of the species. Understanding the pre-refugee ecology of the species may help its conservation management and ensure its long time survival.

Effect of the abrasive properties of sedges on the intestinal absorptive surface and resting metabolic rate of root voles.

Recent studies on grasses and sedges suggest that the induction of a mechanism reducing digestibility of plant tissues in response to herbivore damage may drive rodent population cycles. This defence mechanism seems to rely on the abrasive properties of ingested plants. However, the underlying mechanism has not been demonstrated in small wild herbivores.