Effects of fragmentation and isolation on genetic variability of the Italian populations of wolf Canis lupus and brown bear Ursus arctos

• Autorzy: Randi E.
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

During the last centuries many West European populations of wolf Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758 and brown bear Ursus arctos Linnaeus, 1758 have been extirpated from most of their former ranges. Isolated populations of wolves (about 300 - 400 animals) and brown bears (about 80 - 100 animals) actually survive in the Italian Apennines, while very few (5 - 10) brown bears remain in the Italian eastern Alps. We have investigated the consequences of isolation, demographic decline, and random drift on genetic variability of the Italian populations of wolf and brown bear using restriction site analysis and nucleotide sequencing of portions of the mitochondrial genome. The studied sequences were homogeneous within-populations of both species, but there was a fixed difference in mtDNA between brown bears form the Alps and from the Apennines. Random drift since the time of isolation is a plausible explanation for both results. These findings suggest that wolves and bears have small effective population sizes and, thus, they will continue to loose genetic variability by random drift in the near future. Conservation efforts should be directed towards an increase of the annual growth rates of these populations. The individualization of discrete phylogeographic units in the brown bear suggests to manage them separately in order to preserve the existing gene diversity among populations.

Słowa kluczowe

EN

wolf; bottleneck; Alpine wolf; Italy; brown bear; conservation genetics; genetic variation; mitochondrion; Canis lupus; bear; random drift; isolation; polymerase chain reaction; fragmentation; DNA; Italian wolf; Ursus arctos

• Wydawca: -
• Czasopismo: Acta Theriologica. Supplement
• Rocznik: 1993
• Tom: 38
• Numer: 2
• Opis fizyczny: p.113-120,fig.

Twórcy

autor

Randi E.

• Istituto Nazionale per la Fauna Selvatica, via Ca'Fornacetta 9, 40064 Ozzano dell'Emilia, Italy

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