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The 10,000-year biocultural history of fallow deer and its implications for conservation policy.

ABSTRACT: Over the last 10,000 y, humans have manipulated fallow deer populations with varying outcomes. Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica) are now endangered. European fallow deer (Dama dama) are globally widespread and are simultaneously considered wild, domestic, endangered, invasive and are even the national animal of Barbuda and Antigua. Despite their close association with people, there is no consensus regarding their natural ranges or the timing and circumstances of their human-mediated translocations and extirpations. Our mitochondrial analyses of modern and archaeological specimens revealed two distinct clades of European fallow deer present in Anatolia and the Balkans. Zooarchaeological evidence suggests these regions were their sole glacial refugia. By combining biomolecular analyses with archaeological and textual evidence, we chart the declining distribution of Persian fallow deer and demonstrate that humans repeatedly translocated European fallow deer, sourced from the most geographically distant populations. Deer taken to Neolithic Chios and Rhodes derived not from nearby Anatolia, but from the Balkans. Though fallow deer were translocated throughout the Mediterranean as part of their association with the Greco-Roman goddesses Artemis and Diana, deer taken to Roman Mallorca were not locally available Dama dama, but Dama mesopotamica. Romans also initially introduced fallow deer to Northern Europe but the species became extinct and was reintroduced in the medieval period, this time from Anatolia. European colonial powers then transported deer populations across the globe. The biocultural histories of fallow deer challenge preconceptions about the divisions between wild and domestic species and provide information that should underpin modern management strategies.

SUBMITTER: Baker KH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10895352 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The 10,000-year biocultural history of fallow deer and its implications for conservation policy.

Baker Karis H KH Miller Holly H Doherty Sean S Gray Howard W I HWI Daujat Julie J Çakırlar Canan C Spassov Nikolai N Trantalidou Katerina K Madgwick Richard R Lamb Angela L AL Ameen Carly C Atici Levent L Baker Polydora P Beglane Fiona F Benkert Helene H Bendrey Robin R Binois-Roman Annelise A Carden Ruth F RF Curci Antonio A De Cupere Bea B Detry Cleia C Gál Erika E Genies Chloé C Kunst Günther K GK Liddiard Robert R Nicholson Rebecca R Perdikaris Sophia S Peters Joris J Pigière Fabienne F Pluskowski Aleksander G AG Sadler Peta P Sicard Sandra S Strid Lena L Sudds Jack J Symmons Robert R Tardio Katie K Valenzuela Alejandro A van Veen Monique M Vuković Sonja S Weinstock Jaco J Wilkens Barbara B Wilson Roger J A RJA Evans Jane A JA Hoelzel A Rus AR Sykes Naomi N

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20240212 8

Over the last 10,000 y, humans have manipulated fallow deer populations with varying outcomes. Persian fallow deer (<i>Dama mesopotamica</i>) are now endangered. European fallow deer (<i>Dama dama</i>) are globally widespread and are simultaneously considered wild, domestic, endangered, invasive and are even the national animal of Barbuda and Antigua. Despite their close association with people, there is no consensus regarding their natural ranges or the timing and circumstances of their human-m ...[more]

PMID: 38346198

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Project description:The gut microbial composition and function are shaped by different factors (e.g., host diet and phylogeny). Gut microbes play an important role in host nutrition and development. The gut microbiome may be used to evaluate the host potential environmental adaptation. In this study, we focused on the coevolution of the gut microbiome of captive and translocated Père David's deer populations (Elaphurus davidianus; Chinese: Père David's deer). To address this, we used several different macro- and micro-ecological approaches (landscape ecology, nutritional methods, microscopy, isotopic analysis, and metagenomics). In this long-term study (2011-2014), we observed some dissimilarities in gut microbiome community and function between the captive and wild/translocated Dafeng Père David's deer populations. These differences might link microbiome composition with deer diet within a given season. The proportion of genes coding for putative enzymes (endoglucanase, beta-glucosidase, and cellulose 1,4-beta-cellobiosidase) involved in cellulose digestion in the gut microbiome of the captive populations was higher than that of the translocated population, possibly because of the high proportion of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin in the plants most consumed by the captive populations. However, the two enzymes (natA and natB) involved in sodium transport system were enriched in the gut microbiome in translocated population, possibly because of their high salt diet (e.g., Spartina alterniflora). Thus, our results suggested that Père David's deer gut microorganisms potentially coevolved with host diet, and reflected the local adaptation of translocated population in the new environment (e.g., new dietary plants: Spartina alterniflora). A current problem for Père David's deer conservation is the saturation of captive populations. Given that the putative evolutionary adaptation of Père David's deer gut microbiome and its possible applications in conservation, the large area of wetlands along the Yellow Sea dominated by S. alterniflora might be the major translocation region in the future.

Dataset Information

The 10,000-year biocultural history of fallow deer and its implications for conservation policy.

Publications

The 10,000-year biocultural history of fallow deer and its implications for conservation policy.

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