Spatial structure in European moose (Alces alces)

• Published in: Journal of Biogeography
• Main Authors: Niedziałkowska, Magdalena, Hundertmark, Kris J., Jędrzejewska, Bogumila, Niedziałkowski, Krzysztof, Sidorovič, Vadim Evgenevich, Górny, Marcin, Veeroja, Rauno, Solberg, Erling J., Laaksonen, Sauli, Sand, Håkan, Solovyev, Vyacheslav A., Shkvyria, Maryna, Tiainen, Juha, Okhlopkov, Innokentiy M., Juškaitis, Rimvydas, Done, Gundega, Borodulin, Vadim A., Tulandin, Evgenii A., Jędrzejewski, Włodzimierz
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Anthropogenic influences; Bottleneck; Effective population size; Expansion; Genetic structure; Last Glacial Maximum; MtDNA; North-eastern Europe; Phylogeography; Refugia; Alces alces
• Online Access: http://lmavb.lvb.lt/LMAVB:ELABAPDB5998361&prefLang=en_US

Results. Estonia had the highest nucleotide diversity, and western Belarus had the highest haplotype diversity. We observed four regional populations from the samova analysis. We found three haplogroups in European moose, probably representing lineages conserved in different refugia during the Pleistocene. European moose underwent spatial expansion after the LGM, but did not undergo demographic expansion. The effective population size has declined markedly within the last 2000 years. Main conclusions. The current levels and distribution of genetic diversity in European moose indicate the effects both of Pleistocene glaciations and of a recent bottleneck, probably associated with anthropogenic influences such as pastoralization and hunting, and a very recent re-expansion. We show that both historical and recent events can influence the diversity and distribution of a large mammal on a large scale.