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Genetic variability of central–western European pine marten (Martes martes) populations

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Abstract

Recent studies highlighted the potential role of cryptic glacial refugia for temperate taxa in Europe beyond the Mediterranean peninsulas. To further investigate phylogeographic features of the European pine marten (Martes martes) in previously identified cryptic refugia located in central–western Europe, we analysed the hyper-variable diagnostic fragment of the mitochondrial control region in a total of 134 specimens, allowing for reliable comparisons with previous genetic studies of the species. We included samples from eight different European countries in central–western Europe (Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands), in south–western Europe (Spain), in north–central Europe (Denmark) and in central Europe (Germany and Poland). The sequences collapsed in 17 haplotypes, which allowed us to determine the genetic composition of the pine marten populations throughout central–western Europe. Overall, our results showed that the population genetic variation, estimated by the standardised haplotype diversity, was high (0.400 ≤ Hs ≤ 0.762), and it was considerably higher in Germany (0.762) and the Netherlands (0.722) compared to the other countries. The nucleotide diversity was relatively low (0.002 ≤ π ≤ 0.016) even in Germany and the Netherlands (0.016 and 0.014, respectively), suggesting relatively small, long-term effective population sizes or severe bottlenecks. Out of the 17 haplotypes found in our study area, 13 were unique and limited to a single country: one in Denmark, one in Spain, four in Poland and seven in the Netherlands. The pairwise genetic distance ranged from 0.001 to 0.032 and did not show any evident correlation with the geographic distances between the populations. A genealogical relationship network was constructed, which provided evidence for a recent origin of many of the unique haplotypes. Approximately 82 % of the samples analysed in this study belonged to haplotypes grouped into a previously identified central–northern European phylogroup of the species. Our results support previous findings, indicating low contribution of southern refugial populations to the postglacial recolonization of central–western Europe and a predominant contribution of pine marten populations that survived the Last Glacial Maxima in cryptic northern refugia.

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Acknowledgments

This research project has been supported by a Marie Curie Transfer of Knowledge Fellowship BIORESC of the European Community’s Sixth Framework Programme under contract number MTKD-CT-2005-029957. Furthermore, we wish to thank the ConGen Programme (funded by the European Science Foundation), the Danish Natural Science Research Council and the Aalborg Zoo Conservation Foundation (AZCF) for financial support to CP (grant numbers: #21-01-0526 and #21-03-0125). A. Ruiz-Gonzalez holds a postdoctoral fellowship awarded by the Department of Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Government (Ref. DKR-2012-64). Finally, we would like to thank the Associate Editor and two anonymous reviewers for invaluable suggestions and help.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department 18/Section of Environmental Engineering, Aalborg University, Sohngårdsholmsvej 57, 9000, Aalborg, Denmark

    Cino Pertoldi

  2. Aalborg Zoo, Aalborg, Denmark

    Cino Pertoldi

  3. Evolutionary Genetics, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Kelly Elschot & Louis van de Zande

  4. Department of Zoology and Animal Cell Biology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), C/ Paseo de la Universidad 7, 01006, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

    Aritz Ruiz-Gonzalez

  5. Systematics, Biogeography and Population Dynamics Research Group, Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Avda. Miguel de Unamuno, 3, 01006, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

    Aritz Ruiz-Gonzalez

  6. Conservation Genetics Laboratory, National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Via Cà Fornacetta 9, 40064, Ozzano dell’Emilia (BO), Italy

    Aritz Ruiz-Gonzalez

  7. Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Białowieża, 17-230, Warszawa, Poland

    Andrzej Zalewski

  8. Department of Biology, The University of Oklahoma Biological Station (UOBS), 15389 Station Road, Kingston, OK, 73439-8744, USA

    Joaquín Muñoz

  9. Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Grenaavej 14, Kaloe, 8410, Rønde, Denmark

    Aksel Bo Madsen

  10. Department of Bioscience, Integrative Ecology and Evolution, Aarhus University, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Volker Loeschcke

  11. Animal Ecology Team, Alterra–Wageningen UR, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Arjen de Groot

  12. Population and Conservation Genetics and Theoretical Biology, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 11103, 9700 CC, Groningen, The Netherlands

    R. Bijlsma

Authors
  1. Cino Pertoldi
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  2. Kelly Elschot
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  4. Louis van de Zande
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  5. Andrzej Zalewski
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  6. Joaquín Muñoz
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  8. Volker Loeschcke
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Correspondence to Cino Pertoldi.

Additional information

Communicated by: Jan M. Wójcik

Cino Pertoldi, Kelly Elschot and Aritz Ruiz-Gonzalez have contributed equally.

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Pertoldi, C., Elschot, K., Ruiz-Gonzalez, A. et al. Genetic variability of central–western European pine marten (Martes martes) populations. Acta Theriol 59, 503–510 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-014-0196-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-014-0196-7

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