Bucking the trend in wolf-dog hybridization: first evidence from europe of hybridization between female dogs and male wolves.

ABSTRACT: Studies on hybridization have proved critical for understanding key evolutionary processes such as speciation and adaptation. However, from the perspective of conservation, hybridization poses a concern, as it can threaten the integrity and fitness of many wild species, including canids. As a result of habitat fragmentation and extensive hunting pressure, gray wolf (Canis lupus) populations have declined dramatically in Europe and elsewhere during recent centuries. Small and fragmented populations have persisted, but often only in the presence of large numbers of dogs, which increase the potential for hybridization and introgression to deleteriously affect wolf populations. Here, we demonstrate hybridization between wolf and dog populations in Estonia and Latvia, and the role of both gende

SUBMITTER: Hindrikson M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3463576 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature