Filogeografija in populacijska biologija navadnega polha (Rodentia: Gliridae: Glis glis) na jadranskih otokih : doktorska disertacija

slovenian

doktorska dela

2015

Univerza v Mariboru, Fakulteta za naravoslovje in matematiko

Edible dormouse, Glis glis, is a rodent species distributed across Europe, northern Turkey, Caucasus and northern Iran, where its range mainly coincides with the deciduous forest zone. It is obligatory hibernator, sensitive to climate change and other environmental factors and as such an important bioindicator of environmental changes. The aim of this study was to gain an insight into the biology of an island population of the edible dormouse and to analyse the phylogeographic structure of the island populations on six Adriatic islands. In the population biology part of the study we were interested whether the island population shows signs of the island syndrome, which is common in most island rodent populations. For the comparison, data from the long term monitoring in Kočevski Rog, Slovenia, were used. The robust characteristics of both populations were very similar and included absenteeism, reproductive skipping and hibernation. The population from Cres island showed some of clear signs of the island syndrome: greater population size and higher density, lower reproductive input per individual (including smaller litter size) and lower mass gaining in juveniles. Small differences were found in the activity period, and almost no difference was found in the body mass between the two populations. In the phylogeographic part of the study, we analysed genetic structuring of the edible dormice populations occupying the landbridge Adriatic islands which were isolated from the mainland after a transgression of glacial meltwater at about 10 kya. The edible dormouse is well nested into a system-wide biogeography of the archipelago, presumably the consequence of its in situ persistence since the insularisation of the entire system. If so, the genetic profile of island populations was not affected by the presumed population bottleneck at 2 kya and possibly retained an ancestral genetic diversity which eroded on the mainland. To test the hypothesis, we explored a fragment of a cytochrome b gene in 50 dormice from six islands and further 10 individuals from two eastern Adriatic peninsulas (Istria and Pelješac), one locality in Serbia and three localities in Macedonia. Two new haplotypes from Macedonia clustered into the Macedonian phylogeographic lineage, while the remaining 9 haplotypes formed an unsupported sublineage (the Adriatic haplogroup) within a widespread European lineage. Six Adriatic haplotypes were endemic to a particular island and only one haplotype was shared between the islands and the mainland. A mere 1-2 mutational steps separated the endemic island haplotypes from the widespread haplotype which concurs with the postulated recent population expansion of the European lineage. On the other hand, the suggested timing of the event (i.e. 2 kya) cannot be related with certainty to the environmental dynamics of the Adriatic region since the Last Glacial Maximum.

08.08.2023