Danish free-ranging mink populations consist mainly of farm animals: Evidence from microsatellite and stable isotope analyses

Hammershøj, Mette; Pertoldi, Cino; Asferg, Tommy; Møller, Thomas Bach; Kristensen, Niels Bastian

doi:10.1016/j.jnc.2005.03.001

Cited by 38 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…All farms had closed by the late 1980s following a change in UK law. Escape rates from contemporary mink farms are generally high, with up to 86% of natural populations comprising escaped individuals in European populations (Hammershoj et al 2005). The genetic differentiation of mink we documented between regions here may be the result of different genetic make-up of the captive stocks that escaped to found these populations; however, in the absence of information on the genetic make-up of mink held in fur farms in Scotland, any interpretation is necessarily somewhat speculative.…”

Section: Colonisation and Management Implicationmentioning

confidence: 67%

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Landscape barriers reduce gene flow in an invasive carnivore: geographical and local genetic structure of American mink in Scotland

et al. 2009

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To be effective, management programmes geared towards halting or reversing the spread of invasive species must focus on defined and defensible areas. This requires knowledge of the dispersal of non-native species targeted for control to better understand invasion and recolonisation scenarios. We investigated the genetic structure of invasive American mink (Neovison vison) in Scotland, and incorporated landscape genetic approaches to examine resultant patterns in relation to geographical features that may influence dispersal. Populations of mink sampled from 10 sites in two regions (Argyll and Northeast Scotland) show a distinct genetic structure. First, the majority of pairwise population comparisons yielded F(ST) values that were significantly greater than zero. Second, AMOVA revealed that most of the genetic variance was attributable to differences among regions. Assignment tests placed 89 or more of individuals into their sampled region. Bayesian clustering methods grouped samples into two clusters according to their region of origin. Wombling approach identified the Cairngorms Mountains as a major impediment to gene flow between the regions. Mantel pairwise correlations between genetic and geographical distances estimated as least-cost distance assuming a linear increase in the cost of movement with increasing elevation were higher than Euclidean distances or distance along waterways. Spatial autocorrelation analyses revealed stronger spatial structuring for females than for males. These results suggest that gene flow by American mink is restricted by landscape features (mountain ranges) and that eradication attempt should in the first instance break down the connectivity between management units separated by mountains.

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Section: Colonisation and Management Implicationmentioning

confidence: 67%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape barriers reduce gene flow in an invasive carnivore: geographical and local genetic structure of American mink in Scotland

et al. 2009

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“…Stable isotope ratio analysis is a widely used technique for obtaining information about the geographical origin and dietary history of wild as well as domesticated animals 1–7. Studies have been conducted on large mammalian species including sheep,2, 8 cattle4, 9–11 and horses,12, 13 with different elements being measured in different tissues.…”

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confidence: 99%

Using hooves for high‐resolution isotopic reconstruction of bovine dietary history

Harrison

Zazzo

Bahar

et al. 2007

Rapid Comm Mass Spectrometry

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The objective of this study was to ascertain whether sequential sampling and isotopic analysis of bovine hooves could be used to reconstruct the dietary history of cattle. A controlled, on-farm experiment was conducted in which cattle were switched from a barley-based diet to an isotopically different diet incorporating maize, urea and seaweed (the isotopic spacing between diets was 13.6 per thousand for delta(13)C and 8.0 per thousand for delta(15)N) and maintained on that diet for 168 days. Postmortem sampling of the cleaned anterior wall of the lateral, left front claw was carried out on five individuals using a micro-drilling technique. From the first 60 mm of each claw, up to 41 samples with a spacing between them of less than 1 mm were collected. Bands were less than 1 mm deep and had a mean width of 1.2 mm. The hoof keratin showed a rapid increase followed by a slower increase in its delta(13)C and delta(15)N values following the diet switch, suggesting that C and N in hoof keratin originate from more than one pool. However, the response of the N isotope composition of the hoof was somewhat delayed compared with that of C. Estimated mean hoof growth rates for these cattle were 10.5 +/- 2.3 mm per month and 6.7 +/- 1.0 mm per month (+/-SD, n = 5) when receiving the barley-based transition diet and the maize-based experimental diet, respectively. These values are considerably higher than previous estimates obtained by visual methods and they suggest that diet may have a greater influence on hoof growth rates than seasonality. These results demonstrate that hooves are a suitable incremental tissue for high-resolution isotopic reconstruction of the dietary history of bovine animals.

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“…Stable isotope analysis (SIA) is a well‐established and widely used method in wildlife ecology and zoological archaeology. It enables researchers to gather information about the geographical origin and dietary history of animals 1–6. Numerous large mammalian species including cattle,1, 4, 6 elephants5 and llamas,2, 7 along with others, such as sheep and goats,7, 8 have been studied to date.…”

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confidence: 99%

Three‐dimensional growth of bovine hoof as recorded by carbon stable isotope ratios

Harrison

Monahan

Zazzo

et al. 2007

Rapid Comm Mass Spectrometry

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To investigate the usefulness of bovine hooves as incremental tissues, the objective of this research was to gain a better understanding of hoof growth in three dimensions. In a controlled experiment, cattle were switched from a barley-based diet to a maize-based diet (C isotopic spacing between diets was 13.6 per thousand) and maintained on this experimental diet for 168 days. To compare growth rates along the hoof wall, three slices were sampled post-mortem from one bovine claw. In addition, one claw from each of three different animals was sampled at different depths from the surface to determine any possible time lag ('offset') in the laying down of keratin tissue layers. From each hoof as many as 41 superficial samples were taken over the first 60 mm, starting at the periople, and up to 12 samples were taken sequentially at increasing depths to a depth of 6 mm at five particular points on the surface. The growth rate of the abaxial wall of the bovine claw increased from the anterior to the posterior region of the bovine hoof. Analysis of the deep samples revealed that the deeper layers were younger than the surface layers. This offset was inversely related to the hoof growth rate, i.e. hooves with a high hoof growth rate showed a smaller offset. Observed offsets ranged between 9.2 +/- 1.8 days per mm in depth for a high and 14.0 +/- 2.8 days per mm in depth for a low hoof growth rate and were significantly different (t > or = 3.92, p < 0.0005, n = 19 or 27). The results of this study demonstrate that when sampling hooves or hoof fragments for applications such as diet reconstruction, careful consideration needs to be given to sample location.

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Danish free-ranging mink populations consist mainly of farm animals: Evidence from microsatellite and stable isotope analyses

Cited by 38 publications

References 29 publications

Landscape barriers reduce gene flow in an invasive carnivore: geographical and local genetic structure of American mink in Scotland

Landscape barriers reduce gene flow in an invasive carnivore: geographical and local genetic structure of American mink in Scotland

Using hooves for high‐resolution isotopic reconstruction of bovine dietary history

Three‐dimensional growth of bovine hoof as recorded by carbon stable isotope ratios

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