Mitogenome Phylogeny Including Data from Additional Subspecies Provides New Insights into the Historical Biogeography of the Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx

Abstract

Phylogenetic and phylogeographic assessments of species should ideally include individuals of all known populations. However, this is difficult for species with large distribution areas. Previous molecular studies of the wide-ranging Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx focused mainly on its northern Palearctic populations, with the consequence that the reconstruction of this species’ evolutionary history did not include genetic variation present in its southern Palearctic distribution. We sampled a previously not considered Asian subspecies (L. l. dinniki), added published data from another Asian subspecies (L. l. isabellinus), and reassessed the Eurasian lynx mtDNA phylogeny along with previously published data from northern Palearctic populations. Our mitogenome-based analyses revealed that the subspecies L. l. isabellinus harbours the most basal matriline, consistent with the origin of Lynx lynx in this subspecies’ current range. L. l. dinniki harbours the second-most basal matriline, which is related to, and may be the source of, the mtDNA diversity of the critically endangered Balkan lynx L. l. balcanicus. Our results suggest that the Anatolian peninsula was a glacial refugium for Eurasian lynx, with previously unconsidered implications for the colonization of Europe by this species. Genetic variation present in southern Palearctic populations of Lynx lynx is clearly important for elucidating the evolutionary history of this species.

Diverging ecological traits between the Balkan lynx and neighbouring populations as a basis for planning its genetic rescue

“…Moreover, an understudied Eurasian lynx population in south-western Turkey, which might represent another remnant population of the Balkan lynx subspecies (Cömert et al 2018;Mengüllüoğlu et al 2021a), could be another candidate source for population rescue and needs special attention from both the ecological and genetic point of view. Previous studies, however, showed that this lynx population occur in montane coniferous forests and at very high densities with brown hare as its principal prey (Avgan et al 2014;Mengüllüoglu et al 2018), suggesting it is ecologically more similar to other Caucasian lynx populations in Anatolia.…”

“…The evolutionary history of the Balkan lynx lineage stretches for more than 50 kya years (Mengüllüoğlu et al 2021a;Bazzicalupo et al 2022) and, during this time, its population has always been relatively small compared to other populations in Asia, or Europe (Bazzicalupo et al 2022). Given the long-term process of inbreeding, it is likely that reproductive success is already affected by inbreeding depression.…”

“…The intense genetic drift in the bottlenecked Balkan lynx contributes to further genetic erosion, whereas observed low genetic diversity and extremely small effective population size call for immediate genetic rescue actions (Bazzicalupo et al 2022). Provided that the closest neighbours of the Balkan lynx population are Carpathian L. l. carpathicus (which were also reintroduced to the Dinaric Mountains) and Caucasian lynx L. l. dinniki, it is logical to seek potential alternatives for genetic rescue from these two subspecies (Mengüllüoğlu et al 2021a). However, lynx populations may have been adapting to local conditions, including potentially developing different behaviour in terms of habitat use or prey selection.…”

“…The change is mostly evident in the Anatolia and Caucasus, where lynx differ considerably in body size and foraging behaviour from the European populations (Mengüllüoğlu et al 2018). This variety of foraging habits may be a product of their evolutionary history, especially conditions in the glacial refugia during the last glacial maximum (LGM) (Mengüllüoğlu et al 2021a). For example, forest refugia in the central and northern parts of the Palearctic hosted several prey species, including ungulates, while more southern regions were less affected by the last ice age (Hemmer 1993).…”

First mitogenome phylogeny of the sun bear Helarctos malayanus reveals a deep split between Indochinese and Sundaic lineages

“…Archival and non-invasively collected sample material is increasingly utilized in molecular studies of wildlife species, particularly if these are rare, elusive, protected, or inhabit areas that are difficult to access (e.g. Paijmans et al, 2020; Mengüllüoglu et al 2021; Hessels et al 2021; Sacks et al 2021; von Thaden et al 2021; Cho et al 2022). DNA extracted from such material is usually highly degraded, rendering downstream analyses difficult (e.g.…”