Genetic variability of roe deer Capreolus capreolus in Italy: electrophoretic survey on populations of different origin

Abstract

[D epartm ent of A natom y, In stitu te of B iology, P ed agogical C ollege, R ew. P aźd ziernikow ej Str. 33, 25-518 K ielce, Poland).

Wolf food habits and wild ungulate availability in the Foreste Casentinesi National Park, Italy

“…It is difficult to explain why the relatively high use of wild boar in the study area apparently developed only recently. A possible explanation is that roe deer were always present in our study area (Crudele 1988, Lorenzini et al 1993, but wild boar were reintroduced in the 1970s after being absent for at least 80 years and reached high densities in the second half of the 1980s (ie was not "traditional" prey). This and the possibility that food habits may be perpetuated between generations because packs sometimes have distinct prey preferences (Holleman and Stephenson 1981) may explain why wolves have "discovered" wild boar so late and why use of this prey is now increasing despite declining density.…”

Genetic determination of cervid antlers in relation to their significance in social interactions

“…In roe deer, one or more marked genetic components seem to be responsible for differences in antler dimensions only among yearlings, and are chromosomally or functionally linked to Mpi and Pep-2. In contrast to many other allozyme polymorphisms in roe deer, those at Mpi and Pep-2 are present for the same major alleles in virtually all populations examined so far (cf Hartl et al 1991b, Lorenzini et al 1993. Given the considerable human impact on population structure of large game animals, which may cause dramatic losses of allelic variation by genetic drift (cf Hartl and Pucek 1994, and references therein), the ubiquitous presence of particular alleles at an enzyme locus provides a strong argument in favour of their maintenance through balancing or countervailing selection.…”

“…The deficiency of heterozygotes at Mpi in both sexes may be related to an increased dispersal of large-antlered yearlings. In an expanding population like Casentino (Lorenzini et al 1993), many of these yearlings may have had the opportunity to establish new territories at the margins of its range. In roe deer territories females usually form stable mother clans which, due to non-random mating, ultimately leads to some genetic substructuring of a population (Kurt et al 1993).…”

“…This population is probably autochthonous and stems from the remaining nucleus of the Foreste Casentinensi (Lorenzini et al 1993). All animals were shot during the hunting season of 1993.…”

A genetic investigation of enzyme polymorphisms shared by wolf and dog: suggestions for conservation of the wolf in Italy

“…To achieve a large array of dog alleles, we sampled only unrelated mongrels. Preparation of liver and heart extracts, electrophoresis, and staining procedures followed standard laboratory techniques (Lorenzini et al 1993) adapted from Shaw and Prasad (1970), Harris and Hopkinson (1976), and Murphy et al (1990).…”