New insights into the past and recent evolutionary history of the Corsican mouflon (Ovis gmelini musimon) to inform its conservation

Portanier, Elodie; Chevret, Pascale; Gélin, Pauline; Benedetti, Pierre; Sanchis, Frédéric; Barbanera, Filippo; Kaerle, Cécile; Queney, Guillaume; Bourgoin, Gilles; Devillard, Sébastien; Garel, Mathieu

doi:10.1007/s10592-021-01399-2

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 104 publications

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“…Through time, Sardinia and Corsica have shared a large part of their history, being one single landmass during the last glaciation but also sharing similar history of colonization by humans and genetic ancestry (Grimaldi et al, 2001; Tamm et al, 2019 and references therein). A high phylogenetic proximity has also been evidenced for several species they host (e.g., mouflon, Portanier, Chevret, et al, 2022; weasel Mustela nivalis , Lebarbenchon et al, 2010; Corsican red deer C ervus elaphus corsicanus , Doan et al, 2017). While the presence of wildcats in Corsica has been known for a long time, with Lavauden describing them for the first time in 1929 as “ Felis reyi ” and Arrighi and Salotti mentioning them in a scientific publication in 1988 (Arrighi & Salotti, 1988; Lavauden, 1929; see also Vigne, 1992), no further scientific studies have been performed on these animals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

mentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Some of these later species, such as sheep ( Ovis aries ) and pigs ( Sus domesticus ), were then domesticated and are thus thought to have been introduced on these islands as early domestic animals, while others, such as the house mouse and most probably cats, migrated as commensal species (Cucchi et al, 2020; Faure & Kitchener, 2009). The domestication process of animals at those times must nevertheless have remained very primitive (Rezaei, 2007; Zeder, 2008, 2012), and populations that since inhabit these islands might then represent unique gene pools needing to be recognized as such taxonomically and to benefit from conservation strategies based on scientific knowledge, as evidenced for mouflons or weasels (Guerrini et al, 2015; Lebarbenchon et al, 2010; Portanier, Chevret, et al, 2022). This is particularly relevant to Felis species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Population genomics of Corsican wildcats: Paving the way toward a new subspecies within the Felis silvestris spp. complex?

Portanier

Henri

Benedetti³

et al. 2023

Molecular Ecology

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In the context of the current extinction crisis, identifying new conservation units is pivotal to the development of sound conservation measures, especially in highly threatened taxa such as felids. Corsican wildcats are known by Corsican people since a very long time but have been little studied. Meaningful information about their phylogenetic position is lacking. We used ddRADseq to genotype phenotypically homogenous Corsican wildcats at 3671 genome‐wide SNPs and reported for the first time their genetic identity. We compared this genomic information to domestic cats Felis silvestris catus from Corsica and mainland France, European wildcats F. s. silvestris and Sardinian wildcats F. s. lybica. Our premise was that if the Corsican wildcat, as a phenotypic entity, also represents a genetic entity, it deserves conservation measures and to be recognized as a conservation unit. Corsican wildcats appeared highly genetically differentiated from European wildcats and genetically closer to Sardinian wildcats than to domestic cats. Domestic cats from Corsica and mainland France were closer to each other and Sardinian wildcats were intermediate between Corsican wildcats and domestic cats. This suggested that Corsican wildcats do not belong to the F. s. silvestris or catus lineages. The inclusion of more high‐quality Sardinian samples and Near‐Eastern mainland F. s. lybica would constitute the next step toward assessing the status of Corsican wildcat as a subspecies and/or evolutionarily significant unit and tracing back wildcat introduction history of in Corsica.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

mentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Population genomics of Corsican wildcats: Paving the way toward a new subspecies within the Felis silvestris spp. complex?

Portanier

Henri

Benedetti³

et al. 2023

Molecular Ecology

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“…These were originally considered "vulnerable" but later discarded from the IUCN Red List as their status was revised as feral dogs, although conservation efforts for protecting some dingo populations are still being carried out [55][56][57][58]. Similarly, in the case of EUM, there have been local efforts to protect populations in Sardinia and Corsica [59][60][61][62]…”

Section: Comparison Of Viability Metrics and Conservation Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population genomic history of the endangered Anatolian and Cyprian mouflons in relation to worldwide wild, feral and domestic sheep lineages

Atağ,

Kaptan,

Yüncü

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Once widespread in their homelands, Anatolian mouflon (Ovis gmelini anatolica) and Cyprian mouflon (Ovis gmelini ophion) were driven to near extinction during the 20th century and are currently listed as endangered populations by the IUCN. While the exact origins of these lineages remain unclear, they have been suggested to be close relatives of domestic sheep or remnants of proto-domestic sheep groups. Here, we study whole genome sequences of n=5 Anatolian mouflons and n=10 Cyprian mouflons in terms of population history and diversity, relative to eight other extant sheep lineages. We find reciprocal genetic affinity between Anatolian and Cyprian mouflons and domestic sheep, higher than all other studied wild sheep genomes, including the Iranian mouflon (Ovis gmelini). Despite similar recent population dynamics, Anatolian and Cyprian mouflons exhibit disparate diversity levels, which can potentially be attributed to founder effects, island isolation, introgression from domestic lineages, or different bottleneck dynamics. The lower relative mutation load found in Cyprian compared to Anatolian mouflons suggests the purging of recessive deleterious variants in the former. This agrees with estimates of a long-term small effective population size in the Cyprian mouflon. Both subspecies harbor considerable numbers of runs of homozygosity (ROH) blocks <2 Mb, which reflects the effect of small population size. Expanding our analyses to worldwide wild and feralOvisgenomes, we observe varying viability metrics among different lineages, and a limited consistency between viability metrics and conservation status. Factors such as recent inbreeding, introgression, and unique population dynamics may contribute to the observed disparities.

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“…Indeed, the group clusters with DOM Ovis aries based on their mitogenome ( Townsend et al 2019 ). The EUM has not been assessed by the IUCN due to its assumed feral status; still, there are local conservation efforts for the two primary natural populations in Corsica and Sardinia ( Mereu et al 2019 ; Satta et al 2021 ; Barbato et al 2022 ; Portanier et al 2022 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population Genomic History of the Endangered Anatolian and Cyprian Mouflons in Relation to Worldwide Wild, Feral, and Domestic Sheep Lineages

Atağ,

Kaptan,

Yüncü

et al. 2024

Genome Biology and Evolution

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Once widespread in their homelands, the Anatolian mouflon (Ovis gmelini anatolica) and the Cyprian mouflon (Ovis gmelini ophion) were driven to near extinction during the 20th century and are currently listed as endangered populations by the IUCN. While the exact origins of these lineages remain unclear, they have been suggested to be close relatives of domestic sheep or remnants of proto-domestic sheep. Here, we study whole genome sequences of n = 5 Anatolian mouflons and n = 10 Cyprian mouflons in terms of population history and diversity, comparing them to eight other extant sheep lineages. We find reciprocal genetic affinity between Anatolian and Cyprian mouflons and domestic sheep, higher than all other studied wild sheep genomes, including the Iranian mouflon (Ovis gmelini). Studying diversity indices, we detect a considerable load of short runs of homozygosity (ROH) blocks (<2 Mb) in both Anatolian and Cyprian mouflons, reflecting small effective population size (Ne). Meanwhile, Ne as well as mutation load estimates are lower in Cyprian compared to Anatolian mouflons, suggesting the purging of recessive deleterious variants in Cyprian sheep under a small long-term Ne, possibly attributable to founder effects, island isolation, introgression from domestic lineages, or differences in their bottleneck dynamics. Expanding our analyses to worldwide wild and feral Ovis genomes, we observe varying viability metrics among different lineages, and a limited consistency between viability metrics and IUCN conservation status. Factors such as recent inbreeding, introgression, and unique population dynamics may have contributed to the observed disparities.

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New insights into the past and recent evolutionary history of the Corsican mouflon (Ovis gmelini musimon) to inform its conservation

Cited by 10 publications

References 104 publications

Population genomics of Corsican wildcats: Paving the way toward a new subspecies within the Felis silvestris spp. complex?

Population genomics of Corsican wildcats: Paving the way toward a new subspecies within the Felis silvestris spp. complex?

Population genomic history of the endangered Anatolian and Cyprian mouflons in relation to worldwide wild, feral and domestic sheep lineages

Population Genomic History of the Endangered Anatolian and Cyprian Mouflons in Relation to Worldwide Wild, Feral, and Domestic Sheep Lineages

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