Red deer in Iberia: Molecular ecological studies in a southern refugium and inferences on European postglacial colonization history.

ABSTRACT: The red deer (Cervus elaphus) is a widespread wild ungulate in Europe that has suffered strong anthropogenic impacts over their distribution during the last centuries, but also at the present time, due its economic importance as a game species. Here we focus on the evolutionary history of the red deer in Iberia, one of the three main southern refugial areas for temperate species in Europe, and addressed the hypothesis of a cryptic refugia at higher latitudes during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). A total of 911 individuals were sampled, genotyped for 34 microsatellites specifically developed for red deer and sequenced for a fragment of 670 bp of the mitochondrial (mtDNA) D-loop. The results were combined with published mtDNA sequences, and integrated with species distribution models and hi

SUBMITTER: Queiros J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6324796 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature