Abstract
AbstractThe European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is declining in large parts of Europe but populations in some German cities remained so far unaffected by this decline. The question arises of how urbanization affects patterns of population genetic variation and differentiation in German rabbit populations, as urban habitat fragmentation may result in altered meta-population dynamics. To address this question, we used microsatellite markers to genotype rabbit populations occurring along a rural-to-urban gradient in and around the city of Frankfurt, Germany. We found no effect of urbanization on allelic richness. However, the observed heterozygosity was significantly higher in urban than rural populations and also the inbreeding coefficients were lower, most likely reflecting the small population sizes and possibly on-going loss of genetic diversity in structurally impoverished rural areas. Global FST and G′ST-values suggest moderate but significant differentiation between populations. Multiple matrix regression with randomization ascribed this differentiation to isolation-by-environment rather than isolation-by-distance. Analyses of migration rates revealed asymmetrical gene flow, which was higher from rural into urban populations than vice versa and may again reflect intensified agricultural land-use practices in rural areas. We discuss that populations inhabiting urban areas will likely play an important role in the future distribution of European rabbits.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Reference82 articles.
1. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, P. D. World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision, Methodology of the United Nations Population estimates and Projections. ESA/P/WP.242 (2005).
2. Seto, K. C., Guneralp, B. & Hutyra, L. R. Global forecasts of urban expansion to 2030 and direct impacts on biodiversity and carbon pools. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 109, 16083–16088 (2012).
3. Grimm, N. B. et al. Global change and the ecology of cities. Science 319, 756–60 (2008).
4. Johnson, M. T. J. & Munshi-South, J. Evolution of life in urban environments. Science 358, eaam8327 (2017).
5. Pickett, S. T. A. et al. Urban Ecological Sysytems: Linking Terrestrial Ecological, Physical, and Socioeconomic of Metropolitan Areas. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 32, 127–157 (2001).
Cited by
3 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献