Multiple bottlenecks in threatened western European populations of the common hamster Cricetus cricetus (L.)

Neumann, Karsten; Jansman, H.A.H.; Kayser, Anja; Maak, Steffen; Gattermann, Rolf

doi:10.1023/b:coge.0000030002.01948.b3

Cited by 43 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…9) might thus be a result of the coincidence of population decline and habitat fragmentation, which has been discussed to be a reason for the decline of many species (Hanski 1998), including European hamsters (Weinhold 2008). Besides a risk for increased mortality due to traffic 132 and a long-term reduction in genetic diversity due to isolation (Neumann et al 2004, Feoktistova et al 2016 habitat fragmentation might pose an additional possible threat to reproduction. In captive European hamster colonies, higher litter sizes were observed after a male from another colony was introduced (La Haye et al 2012a, L. Heimann pers.…”

Section: Fragmentation Of the Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

Dramatic global decrease in the range and reproduction rate of the European hamster Cricetus cricetus

Surov¹,

Banaszek²,

Bogomolov³

et al. 2016

Endang. Species. Res.

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Although the European hamster is probably the fastest-declining Eurasian mammal, its IUCN RedList status is still Least Concern. In addition to the huge distribution area, this categorization is based on the assumptions (1) that the decline affects only Western Europe, where (2) modern agriculture has led to (3) an increase in the mortality of the species. Since mortality-reducing protection measures in Western Europe have been unable to stop the decline, we reviewed the literature from 1765 to the present and reappraised the situation. We found support for none of these assumptions. The species has also vanished from more than 75% of its range in Central and Eastern Europe. In 48 of 85 Russian, Belarussian, Ukrainian and Moldovan provinces, its relative occurrence has decreased. It is now rare in 42 provinces and extinct in 8. Mortality has not increased, but the reproduction rate has shrunk since 1954 throughout the distribution area. Today the reproduction rate is only 23% of that between 1914 and 1935. Taking into account the mortality of this prey species, 1 female today raises only 0.5 females for next year's reproduction. The extrapolation of the literature data points to an extinction of the species between 2020 and 2038. We strongly recommend (1) changing the status of the European hamster on the IUCN Red List from Least Concern at least to Vulnerable or even Endangered and (2) supporting scientific research on the reproduction of European hamsters as a protection measure. Global threats such as climate change, light pollution or (in the past) fur trapping are more likely to be the ultimate reason for the decline of this species than modern agriculture.

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Section: Fragmentation Of the Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

Dramatic global decrease in the range and reproduction rate of the European hamster Cricetus cricetus

Surov¹,

Banaszek²,

Bogomolov³

et al. 2016

Endang. Species. Res.

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“…The phylogeography of continental species was partly included in the reviews of Stewart et al (2010) and Varga (2010), but mostly on the basis of chorological data, making the steppededicated parts of the above papers more thought-provoking than reviewing. The general disregard for continental elements in reviews about the phylogeography of European species could be explained by the relatively recent arrival of studies on this group (with the Table 1 Steppic species examined in the meta-analysis with their systematic affiliation, references of papers reviewed, molecular markers used and range covered in these Gvozdik et al (2012), Zinenko et al (2015) seq ( Neumann et al (2004Neumann et al ( , 2005, Banaszek et al (2010Banaszek et al ( , 2011Banaszek et al ( , 2012, Schroeder et al (2014) seq (mtDNA), msats AT,CZ,DE,HU,PL,RO,RU,SK,UA…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogeographic patterns of steppe species in Eastern Central Europe: a review and the implications for conservation

et al. 2016

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The phylogeography of species associated with European steppes and extrazonal xeric grasslands is poorly understood. This paper summarizes the results of recent studies on the phylogeography and conservation genetics of animals (20 taxa of beetles, butterflies, reptiles and rodents) and flowering plants (18 taxa) of such, ''steppic'' habitats in Eastern Central Europe. Most species show a similar phylogeographic pattern: relatively high genetic similarity within regional groups of populations and moderate-to-high genetic distinctiveness of populations from currently isolated regions located in the studied area. This distinctiveness of populations suggests a survival here during glacial maxima, including areas north of the Bohemian Massif-Carpathians arc. Steppic species generally do not follow the paradigmatic patterns known for temperate biota (south-north ''contraction-expansion''), but to some extent are similar to those of arctic-alpine taxa. There are three main groups of taxa within Eastern Central Europe that differ in their contemporary distribution pattern, which may reflect historical origin and expansion routes. Present diversity patterns of the studied steppic species suggest that they share a unique genetic signature and distinct assemblages exist in each of the now isolated areas rich in steppic habitats. At least some of these areas probably act as present ''interglacial refugia'' for steppic species. This study strongly supports the need to protect steppic species throughout their entire ranges in the region, as the continuous destruction of steppic habitats in some areas may lead not only to the disappearance of local populations, but also to the extinction of unique evolutionary units.

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“…In total 51 museum specimens from the museums of natural history in Leiden (Naturalis, the Netherlands) and Brussels (KBIN, Belgium) were sampled, but only 33 samples provided sufficient enough DNA for PCR amplification. The technical analysis of museum and current samples is described in detail in Neumann and Jansman (2004). All genotyping was done by the second author at the Institute of Zoology of the Martin-Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.…”

Section: Samples and Genotypingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, in order to select appropriate donor populations it is necessary to measure the gene diversity and differentiation of potential donor populations. The genetic spatial structure of the Common hamster in Europe and the gene diversity of western European populations has been previously analysed in Neumann et al (2004) and Neumann et al (2005), showing that gene diversity of European hamster populations has been caused by repeated range expansions from eastern refugia. The populations from Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany belong to the 'Northern' group, whereas populations from Czech republic and Hungary belong to the 'Southern' group Pannonia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These studies also suggest that the Rhine valley was used as a post-glacial migration corridor for western populations, causing historic founder effects when groups of hamsters colonised new areas. Neumann et al (2004) also showed that variation in mitochondrial DNA is very limited in western European hamster populations and these populations are predominantly of only a single haplotype, we therefore used only nuclear microsatellite DNA for our study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Strong decline of gene diversity in local populations of the highly endangered Common hamster (Cricetus cricetus) in the western part of its European range

Haye

Neumann

Koelewijn³

2011

Conserv Genet

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The Common hamster (Cricetus cricetus) has declined by more than 99% in the westernmost part of its range in Belgium, the Netherlands and the adjacent German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (BNN region) during recent decades. Various conservation schemes are ongoing to support the remaining populations, including restoration of the habitat, captive breeding and reintroductions. One of the factors determining the success of conservation actions is the genetic constitution of the remaining populations. We therefore measured the genetic variation in current BNN hamster populations and compared the outcome with the genetic variation in museum samples from the historical, non-fragmented, population. Most of the current populations have lost the majority of their rare alleles and individual animals have become nearly homozygous. Since different alleles became fixed in different populations, this has resulted in strong genetic differentiation between current populations and reflects the strength of drift and inbreeding processes in small and isolated populations. Despite this differentiation, the total gene diversity of these small populations combined is not much less than that of the historical population. Hence, the main genetic difference between historical and present is not in terms of total genetic variation or number of alleles in the BNN region, but in the distribution of this variation over the populations.

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Multiple bottlenecks in threatened western European populations of the common hamster Cricetus cricetus (L.)

Cited by 43 publications

References 35 publications

Dramatic global decrease in the range and reproduction rate of the European hamster Cricetus cricetus

Dramatic global decrease in the range and reproduction rate of the European hamster Cricetus cricetus

Phylogeographic patterns of steppe species in Eastern Central Europe: a review and the implications for conservation

Strong decline of gene diversity in local populations of the highly endangered Common hamster (Cricetus cricetus) in the western part of its European range

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