Phylogeography of the common vole (Microtus arvalis) with particular emphasis on the colonization of the Orkney archipelago

Abstract

To investigate the human introduction of the common vole Microtus arvalis onto the Orkney islands, the complete cytochrome b gene was sequenced in 41 specimens from both Orkney (four localities) and elsewhere in their range (26 localities). Orkney voles belonged to the same phylogenetic lineage, 'Western', as individuals from France and Spain indicating southwestern Europe as the most likely source area for the islands. This result is of interest with respect to the movement and trading links of the Neolithic people who likely transported the voles. As well as the Western lineage, our phylogenetic trees revealed three other purely European lineages: the 'Italian' (single specimen from N. Italy), the 'Central' (Germany, Netherlands, Denmark) and the 'Eastern' (Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine, Finland, European Russia). Individuals from European Russia, W. Siberia, Georgia, Ukraine and Armenia formed a fifth distinct lineage coinciding with the distribution of the 'obscurus' chromosomal form of M. arvalis. These phylogeographical data suggest that M. arvalis occupied multiple refugia during the last glaciation.

Mitochondrial phylogeography of the edible dormouse (Glis glis) in the western Palearctic region

“…Because fossil remains of G. glis have been reported from Calabria (Italy) during the late glacial periods (12,100 years ago- Fiore et al 2004), it seems likely that this region played a role as a glacial refugium for this species. This refuge located close to the Mediterranean Sea is in agreement with the pattern of refugia that has been reported previously for other rodent species (Deffontaine et al 2005;Haynes et al 2003;Jaarola and Searle 2002;Michaux et al 2003Michaux et al , 2005.…”

“…associated with the refugium theory in rodents of the Northern Hemisphere, including the field vole (Microtus agrestisJaarola and Searle 2002), the common vole (Microtus arvalis- Haynes et al 2003), the root vole (Microtus oeconomus- Brunhoff et al 2003), the bank vole (Myodes glareolus- Deffontaine et al 2005), and the woodmouse (Apodemus sylvaticus- Michaux et al 2003).…”

Mitochondrial sequences point on a cryptic species in five-toed jerboas, subgenus Paralactaga

“…The DNA was extracted using a QIAamp DNA Mini Kit (Qiagen, Valencia, CA, USA). The cytochrome b gene (cyt b) was amplified partially with primers H15319Marv, L15162Marv, L15408Marv (Haynes et al 2003), H15752 (Ohdachi et al 2006), L15702 (Harrison et al 2003), L14727-SP, and H15915-SP (Jaarola and Searle 2002). The alignment of the three fragments yielded the sequence data for a partial cyt b gene (1104 bp).…”

The origin of Swedish and Norwegian populations of the Eurasian harvest mouse (Micromys minutus)

“…the house mouse (Mus musculus) and the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus)). For example, the common vole (Microtus arvalis) was introduced to the Orkney islands from southwestern Europe during the Neolithic period, probably through transports of animal fodder (Haynes et al 2003). More recently, a number of striped field mice (Apodemus agrarius) have arrived with potato transports from Jutland in Denmark to Ödeshög in south central Sweden (Björkman 2009); this constitutes the first documented records of the species in Sweden.…”