Population dynamics of a natural red deer population over 200 years detected via substantial changes of genetic variation

Abstract

Most large mammals have constantly been exposed to anthropogenic influence over decades or even centuries. Because of their long generation times and lack of sampling material, inferences of past population genetic dynamics, including anthropogenic impacts, have only relied on the analysis of the structure of extant populations. Here, we investigate for the first time the change in the genetic constitution of a natural red deer population over two centuries, using up to 200-year-old antlers (30 generations) stored in trophy collections. To the best of our knowledge, this is the oldest DNA source ever used for microsatellite population genetic analyses. We demonstrate that government policy and hunting laws may have strong impacts on populations that can lead to unexpectedly rapid changes in the genetic constitution of a large mammal population. A high ancestral individual polymorphism seen in an outbreeding population (1813-1861) was strongly reduced in descendants (1923)(1924)(1925)(1926)(1927)(1928)(1929)(1930)(1931)(1932)(1933)(1934)(1935)(1936)(1937)(1938)(1939)(1940) during the mid-19th and early 20th century by genetic bottlenecks. Today (2011), individual polymorphism and variance among individuals is increasing in a constant-sized (managed) population. Differentiation was high among periods (F ST > ***); consequently, assignment tests assigned individuals to their own period with >85% probability. In contrast to the high variance observed at nuclear microsatellite loci, mtDNA (D-loop) was monomorphic through time, suggesting that male immigration dominates the genetic evolution in this population.

Using genetic tools to estimate the prevalence of non‐native red deer (Cervus elaphus) in a Western European population

“…Apart from the species' European-wide phylogeography, local or regional red deer stocks have also been intensively studied from a population genetic point of view, often taking into account human impacts (Carranza, Salinas, de Andrés, & Pérez-González, 2016;Frantz, Hamann, & Klein, 2008;Haanes, Røed, Flagstad, & Rosef, 2010;Haanes, Røed, Mysterud, Langvatn, & Rosef, 2010;Hoffmann, Johannesen, & Griebeler, 2016;Kuehn, Haller, Schroeder, & Rottmann, 2004;Kuehn, Schroeder, Pirchner, & Rottmann, 2003;Niedziałkowska, Jędrzejewska, Wójcik, & Goodman, 2012;Zachos, Althoff, Steynitz, Eckert, & Hartl, 2007). Some of these studies have identified clear phylogeographic outliers (e.g., a Sardinian haplotype in the British Isles, Nussey, Pemberton, Donald, & Kruuk, 2006; a few more phylogeographic outliers can be found in Skog et al, 2009), which is conclusive evidence of long-distance translocations.…”

Impact of conservation and hunting on big game species: comparison of the genetic diversity of the red deer population groups from a national park and neighboring hunting areas in northern Poland

“…Historical translocations in the past decades probably had an impact on the current genetic status of the red deer NP group and further analysis of data derived from mitochondrial DNA will provide detailed data. Translocation events and foreign haplotypes have been identified with success in other red deer populations (Hoffmann et al 2016). It should be noted that apart from the migration rates, the habitat connectivity also plays an important role in the gene flow between populations (Maruyama & Fuerst 1985) and the forest cover is an important factor which determines the distribution of red deer in Impact of conservation on big game species central Europe (Borkowski 2004).…”

“…All of the above-mentioned mechanisms, which have a strong influence on genetic diversity and large-scale genetic structure of the red deer could be investigated based on polymorphic microsatellite loci specific to cattle (Bos taurus taurus), sheep (Ovis aries), elk (Cervus canadensis) or reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) (Niedziałkowska et al 2012a;Hoffmann et al 2016;Zachos et al 2016). Additionally, the recently deposited de novo entire red deer genome CerEla1.0 (Acc.…”

Evaluation of the genetic structure of sika deer (Cervus nippon) in Japan's Kanto and Tanzawa mountain areas, based on microsatellite markers

“…; Hoffmann et al . ; Zachos et al . ) because these markers are located at multiple chromosomal loci and are rich in polymorphisms.…”

“…The mitochondrial D-loop region has been used in many studies for analyzing phylogenetic relationships among Japanese sika deer (Nagata et al 1999;Yamada et al 2006;Yuasa et al 2007;Yoshio et al 2008;Takiguchi et al 2012;Terada et al 2013), but analysis of this DNA only yields information about maternal inheritance. Microsatellites are more powerful tools for analyzing genetic population structures (Yuasa 2007;Olano-Marin et al 2014;Hoffmann et al 2016;Zachos et al 2016) because these markers are located at multiple chromosomal loci and are rich in polymorphisms.…”