Wolf (Canis lupus) Generation Time and Proportion of Current Breeding Females by Age

Mech, L. David; Barber‐Meyer, Shannon M.; Erb, John D.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0156682

Cited by 40 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 31 publications

(48 reference statements)

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“…We carried out ancestry block analyses in Eurasian wolves in comparison with domestic dogs, applying a method implemented in the Lamp software that did not require the use of nonadmixed reference populations. Under the assumption of a recent admixture in the past 10 generations (corresponding to about 30–40 years; Mech & Seal, ; Mech, Barber‐Meyer, & Erb, ) we were able to detect first‐generation wolf–dog hybrids, recent back‐crosses, and assess the overall level of admixture. The results we obtained when comparing Eurasian wolves and dog breeds of diverse origin were highly consistent with the results for a reduced data set consisting of European wolves and European dog breeds only.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Widespread, long‐term admixture between grey wolves and domestic dogs across Eurasia and its implications for the conservation status of hybrids

Pilot

Greco

vonHoldt

et al. 2018

Evolutionary Applications

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Hybridisation between a domesticated species and its wild ancestor is an important conservation problem, especially if it results in the introgression of domestic gene variants into wild species. Nevertheless, the legal status of hybrids remains unregulated, partially because of the limited understanding of the hybridisation process and its consequences. The occurrence of hybridisation between grey wolves and domestic dogs is well documented from different parts of the wolf geographic range, but little is known about the frequency of hybridisation events, their causes and the genetic impact on wolf populations. We analysed 61K SNPs spanning the canid genome in wolves from across Eurasia and North America and compared that data to similar data from dogs to identify signatures of admixture. The haplotype block analysis, which included 38 autosomes and the X chromosome, indicated the presence of individuals of mixed wolf–dog ancestry in most Eurasian wolf populations, but less admixture was present in North American populations. We found evidence for male‐biased introgression of dog alleles into wolf populations, but also identified a first‐generation hybrid resulting from mating between a female dog and a male wolf. We found small blocks of dog ancestry in the genomes of 62% Eurasian wolves studied and melanistic individuals with no signs of recent admixed ancestry, but with a dog‐derived allele at a locus linked to melanism. Consequently, these results suggest that hybridisation has been occurring in different parts of Eurasia on multiple timescales and is not solely a recent phenomenon. Nevertheless, wolf populations have maintained genetic differentiation from dogs, suggesting that hybridisation at a low frequency does not diminish distinctiveness of the wolf gene pool. However, increased hybridisation frequency may be detrimental for wolf populations, stressing the need for genetic monitoring to assess the frequency and distribution of individuals resulting from recent admixture.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Widespread, long‐term admixture between grey wolves and domestic dogs across Eurasia and its implications for the conservation status of hybrids

Pilot

Greco

vonHoldt

et al. 2018

Evolutionary Applications

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“…However, it has been suggested that the generation time of wolves is 4.2–5 years (e.g. Mech, Barber‐Meyer, & Erb, ; vonHoldt et al, ). Using 4.5 years as generation time increases the cited mutation rate estimates to an interval of 0.45–0.84 × 10 −8 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolutionary history of grey wolf Y chromosomes

2019

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Analyses of Y chromosome haplotypes uniquely provide a paternal picture of evolutionary histories and offer a very useful contrast to studies based on maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Here we used a bioinformatic approach based on comparison of male and female sequence coverage to identify 4.7 Mb from the grey wolf (Canis lupis) Y chromosome, probably representing most of the male‐specific, nonampliconic sequence from the euchromatic part of the chromosome. We characterized this sequence and then identified ≈1,500 Y‐linked single nucleotide polymorphisms in a sample of 145 resequenced male wolves, including 75 Finnish wolf genomes newly sequenced in this study, and in 24 dogs and eight other canids. We found 53 Y chromosome haplotypes, of which 26 were seen in grey wolves, that clustered in four major haplogroups. All four haplogroups were represented in samples of Finnish wolves, showing that haplogroup lineages were not partitioned on a continental scale. However, regional population structure was indicated because individual haplotypes were never shared between geographically distant areas, and genetically similar haplotypes were only found within the same geographical region. The deepest split between grey wolf haplogroups was estimated to have occurred 125,000 years ago, which is considerably older than recent estimates of the time of divergence of wolf populations. The distribution of dogs in a phylogenetic tree of Y chromosome haplotypes supports multiple domestication events, or wolf paternal introgression, starting 29,000 years ago. We also addressed the disputed origin of a recently founded population of Scandinavian wolves and observed that founding as well as most recent immigrant haplotypes were present in the neighbouring Finnish population, but not in sequenced wolves from elsewhere in the world, or in dogs.

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“…3 years), and the grey wolf ( Canis lupis , c . 5 years), a species with which the thylacine shares many convergent affinities (Jones et al., ; Mech, Barber‐Meyer & Erb, ; Wroe, Clausen, McHenry, Moreno & Cunningham, ; Wroe & Milne, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient mitochondrial genomes reveal the demographic history and phylogeography of the extinct, enigmatic thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus)

White

Austin

2017

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim: The Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, is an infamous example of a recent humanmediated extinction. Confined to the island of Tasmania in historical times, thylacines were hunted to extinction <150 years after European arrival. Thylacines were also once widespread across the Australian mainland, but became extinct there c. 3,200 years before present (BP). Very little is known about thylacine biology and population history; the cause of the thylacines extirpation from the mainland is still debated and the reasons for its survival in Tasmania into the 20th century are unclear. In this study, we investigate the thylacine's phylogeography and demographic history leading up to their extinction on both the mainland and Tasmania to gain insight into this enigmatic species.Location: Southern Australia. Methods:We generated 51 new thylacine mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome sequences from sub-fossil remains and historical museum specimens, and analysed them to reconstruct the species' phylogeography and demographic history. Results:We found evidence that thylacines had contracted into separate eastern and western populations prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (c. 25,000 yr BP), and that the ancient western population was larger and more genetically diverse than the historical Tasmanian population. At the time of European arrival in c. 1800 CE, Tasmanian thylacines had limited mtDNA diversity, possibly resulting from a bottleneck event broadly coincident with an El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) associated climate event, although we find some indication that the population was expanding during the late Holocene.Main Conclusions: The timing of this putative expansion, in concert with a climate event, suggests that climate change had an influence on thylacine population dynamics. Given that ENSO effects are known to have been more severe on mainland Australia, we suggest that climate change, in synergy with other drivers, is likely to have contributed to the thylacine mainland extinction.

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Wolf (Canis lupus) Generation Time and Proportion of Current Breeding Females by Age

Cited by 40 publications

References 31 publications

Widespread, long‐term admixture between grey wolves and domestic dogs across Eurasia and its implications for the conservation status of hybrids

Widespread, long‐term admixture between grey wolves and domestic dogs across Eurasia and its implications for the conservation status of hybrids

The evolutionary history of grey wolf Y chromosomes

Ancient mitochondrial genomes reveal the demographic history and phylogeography of the extinct, enigmatic thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus)

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