Howling from the past: historical phylogeography and diversity losses in European grey wolves.

ABSTRACT: Genetic bottlenecks resulting from human-induced population declines make alarming symbols for the irreversible loss of our natural legacy worldwide. The grey wolf (Canis lupus) is an iconic example of extreme declines driven by anthropogenic factors. Here, we assessed the genetic signatures of 150 years of wolf persecution throughout the Western Palaearctic by high-throughput mitochondrial DNA sequencing of historical specimens in an unprecedented spatio-temporal framework. Despite Late Pleistocene bottlenecks, we show that historical genetic variation had remained high throughout Europe until the last several hundred years. In Western Europe, where wolves nearly got fully exterminated, diversity dramatically collapsed at the turn of the twentieth century and recolonization from fe

SUBMITTER: Dufresnes C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6111155 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature