Skip Navigation


Journal of Heredity Advance Access originally published online on July 17, 2009
Journal of Heredity 2009 100(6):691-708; doi:10.1093/jhered/esp053
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
100/6/691    most recent
esp053v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Crestanello, B.
Right arrow Articles by Bertorelle, G.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Crestanello, B.
Right arrow Articles by Bertorelle, G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The American Genetic Association. 2009. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Original Articles

The Genetic Impact of Translocations and Habitat Fragmentation in Chamois (Rupicapra) spp.

Barbara Crestanello, Elena Pecchioli, Cristiano Vernesi, Stefano Mona, Natalia Martínková, Marian Janiga, Heidi C. Hauffe, and Giorgio Bertorelle

From the IASMA Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach, Via E. Mach 1, 38010 S. Michele all'Adige (TN), Italy (Crestanello, Pecchioli, Vernesi, and Hauffe); Department of Biology and Evolution, University of Ferrara, Via Borsari 46, 44100 Ferrara, Italy, (Crestanello, Mona, and Bertorelle); Institute of Vertebrate Biology, v.v.i., Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Kvetná 8, 603 65 Brno, Czech Republic (Martínková); Institute of High Mountain Biology, Zilina University, Zilina, Tatranská Javorina 7, 05956, Slovak Republic (Janiga)

Address correspondence to Dr G. Bertorelle at the address above, or e-mail: ggb{at}unife.it.

The chamois is a useful species with which to investigate the combined genetic impact of habitat fragmentation, over hunting, and translocations. Genetic variation within and between chamois (genus Rupicapra) populations was analyzed in 259 individuals from 16 sampling sites located in Italy, Spain, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. Two mitochondrial DNA markers (control region and cytochrome b) and 11 nuclear microsatellites were typed. The principal results of this study can be summarized as follows: 1) high and significant differentiation between almost all chamois populations is observed even on a microgeographical scale, probably caused by the patchy distribution of this species, sharp geographical barriers to gene flow, and drift effects related to recent bottlenecks; 2) historical translocation events have left a clear genetic signature, including interspecific hybridization in some Alpine localities; 3) the Apennine subspecies of chamois, Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata, shows a high and similar level of divergence (about 1.5 My) from the Pyrenean (Rupicapra pyrenaica pyrenaica) and the Alpine (Rupicapra rupicapra) chamois; therefore, the specific status of these taxa should be revised. These results confirm the potential of population genetic analyses to dissect and interpret complex patterns of diversity in order to define factors important to conservation and management.

Key Words: conservation • hybridization • management • microsatellites • mtDNA • taxonomy

Corresponding Editor: Robert C. Fleischer

Received June 6, 2008
Revised June 11, 2009
Accepted June 22, 2009


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.