Genetic variation and population structure in Scandinavian wolverine (Gulo gulo) populations

Abstract

Wolverine (Gulo gulo) numbers in Scandinavia were significantly reduced during the early part of the century as a result of predator removal programmes and hunting. Protective legislation in both Sweden and Norway in the 1960s and 1970s has now resulted in increased wolverine densities in Scandinavia. We report here the development of 15 polymorphic microsatellite markers in wolverine and their use to examine the population sub-structure and genetic variability in free-ranging Scandinavian wolverine populations as well as in a sample of individuals collected before 1970. Significant subdivision between extant populations was discovered, in particular for the small and isolated population of southern Norway, which represents a recent recolonization. Overall genetic variability was found to be lower than previously reported for other mustelids, with only two to five alleles per locus and observed heterozygosities (H(O)) ranging from 0.269 to 0.376 across the examined populations, being lowest in southern Norway. Analysis of the mitochondrial DNA control region revealed no variation throughout the surveyed populations. As the historical sample did not show higher levels of genetic variability, our results are consistent with a reduction in the genetic variation in Scandinavian wolverines that pre-dates the demographic bottleneck observed during the last century. The observed subdivision between populations calls for management caution when issuing harvest quotas, especially for the geographically isolated south Norwegian population.

Is the western population of the European mink, (Mustela lutreola), a distinct Management Unit for conservation?

“…This is consistent with other European carnivores, especially mustelids, like wolverines (Walker et al, 2001), otters (Cassens et al, 2000;Morales, 2002), polecats, pine martens (Davison et al, 2001) and wolves (Vila et al, 1999). However, the low variation contrasts with the situation in other mammals, such as brown bears (Ursus arctos) (Taberlet et al, 1998), hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) (Seddon et al, 2001), shrews (Sorex araneus, S. minutus and Crocidura suaveolens) (Taberlet et al, 1994(Taberlet et al, , 1998Bilton et al, 1998), and the rodents Apodemus sylvaticus (Michaux et al, 2003;Libois et al, 2001), Myopus schisticolor (Federov et al, 1996), Arvicola sp.…”

“…Yet some species, especially wideranging carnivores, exhibit little geographic structure between the proposed refugia. This seems to be true for mustelids especially, with low variation and few lineages reported in polecats, pine martens (Martes martes; Davison et al, 2001), otters (Lutra lutra, Cassens et al, 2000), and wolverines (Gulo gulo, Walker et al, 2001), though no mustelid has been intensively sampled across its whole range.…”

Ebb and flow or regional extinctions? On the character of Neandertal occupation of northern environments

“…Although recent intense hunting is sometimes considered a possible cause for regional low genetic diversity [17], a similar pattern is observed in all of northern Europe. Little or no mtDNA variability and low to moderate microsatellite variability are observed in otters, wolves, wolverines and lynxes in northern Europe [6,17,52]. This is most likely explained as the result of the expansion out of one southern refuge at the end of the last glacial maximum and of a subsequent bottleneck.…”

Hidden dispersal in an urban world: genetic analysis reveals occasional long-distance dispersal and limited spatial substructure among Dutch pine martens

“…Amplification was performed for nine microsatellite loci: GG454 (Walker et al 2001), MA1, MA2 and MA4 (Davis and Strobeck 1998), MEL1 and MEL6 (Bijlsma et al 2000), MEL10 (Domingo-Roura 2002), MVI20 and MVI57 (O'Connell et al 1996). For DNA extracts from faeces, a tenth locus (DBY7Ggu, located on the Y-chromosome) was amplified for sex determination.…”