1. Genetic support for the current discrete conservation unit of the Central European wolf population
- Author
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Maciej Romański, Hugh Jansman, Astrid Vik Stronen, Steve Smith, Viktar Fenchuk, Iga Kwiatkowska, Michael Møller Hansen, G. Arjen de Groot, Gesa Kluth, Przemysław Stachyra, Robert W. Mysłajek, Kinga M. Stępniak, Johan Michaux, Tomasz Zwijacz-Kozica, Peter Sunde, Pavel Hulva, Joachim Mergeay, Karolina Lubińska, Maciej Szewczyk, Kent Olsen, Philip Francis Thomsen, Tom A. Diserens, Michał Figura, Andżelika Haidt, Ilka Reinhardt, Barbora Černá Bolfíková, Sylwia D. Czarnomska, Laurent Schley, Natalia Niedźwiecka, Carsten Nowak, Renata Špinkytė-Bačkaitienė, and Sabina Nowak
- Subjects
0106 biological sciences ,Demographic history ,Range (biology) ,Population ,ved/biology.organism_classification_rank.species ,Environmental Sciences & Ecology ,Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law ,010603 evolutionary biology ,01 natural sciences ,recolonisation ,010605 ornithology ,Gene flow ,WOLVES ,genetic structure ,MANAGEMENT ,education ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Nature and Landscape Conservation ,population management units ,education.field_of_study ,WESTERN POLAND ,Science & Technology ,biology ,Ecology ,ved/biology ,RECOVERY ,PE&RC ,biology.organism_classification ,Gray wolf ,Canis lupus ,Phylogeography ,population managament units ,Canis ,Geography ,HABITATS ,Evolutionary biology ,gray wolf ,Genetic structure ,Dierecologie ,Animal Ecology ,Life Sciences & Biomedicine ,Zoology - Abstract
The gray wolf Canis lupus range in central Europe is dynamically expanding, reconnecting previously isolated populations. Thus, a recent paper has proposed to merge the current Baltic and Central European (CE) wolf management units, which are no longer isolated by distance. However, recent genetic findings indicate that these two populations are not genetically homogenous. Here we review the most recent data on wolf genetic structure in central Europe and show that even though the CE and Baltic wolves represent the same phylogeographic lineage, their demographic history has resulted in significant genetic structure between these two populations. While the groups are interconnected by moderate gene flow, it is not high enough to reduce the strong founder signal observed in the CE population, suggesting that population dynamics within the CE wolf range are largely independent from those of its source (Baltic) population. Consequently, a management unit combining the CE and Baltic wolves would not form a demographically coherent entity. Thus, we recommend that conservation management units maintain their separate status.
- Published
- 2021
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