Large-Scale Genetic Structuring of a Widely Distributed Carnivore - The Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx)

Abstract

Over the last decades the phylogeography and genetic structure of a multitude of species inhabiting Europe and North America have been described. The flora and fauna of the vast landmasses of north-eastern Eurasia are still largely unexplored in this respect. The Eurasian lynx is a large felid that is relatively abundant over much of the Russian sub-continent and the adjoining countries. Analyzing 148 museum specimens collected throughout its range over the last 150 years we have described the large-scale genetic structuring in this highly mobile species. We have investigated the spatial genetic patterns using mitochondrial DNA sequences (D-loop and cytochrome b) and 11 microsatellite loci, and describe three phylogenetic clades and a clear structuring along an east-west gradient. The most likely scenario is that the contemporary Eurasian lynx populations originated in central Asia and that parts of Europe were inhabited by lynx during the Pleistocene. After the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) range expansions lead to colonization of north-western Siberia and Scandinavia from the Caucasus and north-eastern Siberia from a refugium further east. No evidence of a Berinigan refugium could be detected in our data. We observed restricted gene flow and suggest that future studies of the Eurasian lynx explore to what extent the contemporary population structure may be explained by ecological variables.

Ancient DNA reveals past existence of Eurasian lynx in Spain

“…Both datasets consisted of ancient and modern Eurasian lynx sequences generated in this study and the equivalent fragment of other sequences available in GenBank from Rueness et al . () and Rodríguez‐Varela et al . () (sequences with gaps, deletions and/or uncertainties were excluded).…”

“…The haplotype networks and the phylogenetic trees clearly show how the ancient Iberian samples from extinct populations are distributed in all three clades described by Rueness et al . () whereas all the Italian samples and one Danish fell exclusively in the south clade. All Danish samples, except one (111/1945‐3), and the French ones cluster within the west clade variation as expected.…”

“…Haplotype distribution of Palearctic lynx samples, where orange = west clade, blue = north‐east clade, and brown = south clade (Rueness et al ., ); yellow: ancient Lynx lynx from Iberia (this study), red: ancient L. lynx from France (Rodríguez–Varela et al ., ), violet: ancient L. lynx from Denmark (this study), and green: ancient Italian L. lynx (Rodríguez–Varela et al ., ). Circle with thick borders represent ancient haplotypes and circles with thin borders represent modern haplotypes.…”

“…Haplotypes missing only in one particular time period are shown as white ellipses. (c, d) Bayesian phylogeny performed by using ancient and modern Eurasian and Iberian lynx sequences generated in this and previous studies (Rueness et al ., ; Rodríguez–Varela et al ., ). Posterior probabilities are shown under the nodes.…”

“…Recent genetic studies on modern and historical samples (Ratkiewicz et al ., ; Rueness et al ., ) are not in concordance with the geographical and morphological separation of the Eurasian lynx into seven different subspecies (Nowell & Jackson, ). The current Eurasian lynx genetic data, based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and microsatellites, suggest a population differentiation across the Eurasian continent due to isolation by distance (Ratkiewicz et al ., ).…”