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Phylogeography and founder effect of the endangered Corsican red deer (Cervus elaphus corsicanus)

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Abstract

Red deer (n = 149) from eight geographical locations, including the endangered endemic populations from the Tyrrhenian islands (Sardinia and Corsica), were analysed at eight polymorphic microsatellite loci. Two questions were addressed: (1) Is there a founder effect in the Corsican population, which was reintroduced to the island using Sardinian deer after the species’ extinction on Corsica? (2) What is the origin of the Tyrrhenian or Corsican red deer (Cervus elaphus corsicanus)? Our results showed signs of a founder effect for the red deer on Corsica in that these deer showed differentiation from the Sardinian population as measured by FST values, assignment tests (with and without a priori definition of populations) and individual-based dendrograms. Genetic variability, however, did not differ significantly between the two populations. With respect to the phylogeography of C. e. corsicanus we found that both deer from North-Africa and Mesola on the Italian mainland were genetically close to the Corsican red deer, but phylogenetic trees based on genetic distances were only poorly supported statistically. Among all populations studied the Mesola red deer showed the lowest distance values from Corsican red deer and yielded allele frequencies that were more similar to those of C. e. corsicanus than were those of North-African red deer. These results are in line with recent palaeontological and archaeozoological findings which suggest that the Corsican red deer is derived from small Italian red deer introduced from the mainland to Sardinia and Corsica during the Late Neolithic and just before the beginning of Classical Antiquity, respectively. They also suggest a possible recent introduction of Tyrrhenian red deer to North-Africa (rather than the other way around), thus accounting for the close genetic relationship (especially based on mitochondrial DNA) that has repeatedly been found between C. e. corsicanus and C. e. barbarus.

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Acknowledgements

F. Klein, R. Unici, J. Sale, H. Rose, S. Aulagnier, A. J. Garcia Diaz and N. Kidjo kindly assisted in obtaining samples. Their help is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Département de Biologie, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, U. R. de Biologie Animale et Systématique Évolutive, 2092, El Manar, Tunisie

    Ghaiet M. Hajji & F. Charfi-Cheikrouha

  2. Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale „G. Caporale“, Campo Boario, 64100, Teramo, Italy

    Rita Lorenzini

  3. Archéozoologie, Muséum nat. Hist. Nat. Ecologie & Gestion de la Biodiversité, CNRS–UMR 5197, CP 56, 57 rue Cuvier, 75231, Paris cedex 05, France

    Jean-Denis Vigne

  4. Zoological Institute, Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel, Olshausenstrasse 40, 24118, Kiel, Germany

    Günther B. Hartl & Frank E. Zachos

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  1. Ghaiet M. Hajji
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  2. F. Charfi-Cheikrouha
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  3. Rita Lorenzini
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Correspondence to Frank E. Zachos.

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Hajji, G.M., Charfi-Cheikrouha, F., Lorenzini, R. et al. Phylogeography and founder effect of the endangered Corsican red deer (Cervus elaphus corsicanus). Biodivers Conserv 17, 659–673 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-007-9297-9

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