Late‐glacial recolonization and phylogeography of E uropean red deer ( C ervus elaphus L .)

• Published in: Molecular ecology Vol. 22; no. 18; pp. 4711 - 4722
• Main Authors: Meiri, Meirav, Lister, Adrian M., Higham, Thomas F. G., Stewart, John R., Straus, Lawrence G., Obermaier, Henriette, González Morales, Manuel R., Marín‐Arroyo, Ana B., Barnes, Ian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.09.2013
• ISSN: 0962-1083; 1365-294X
• DOI: 10.1111/mec.12420

Abstract The Pleistocene was an epoch of extreme climatic and environmental changes. How individual species responded to the repeated cycles of warm and cold stages is a major topic of debate. For the European fauna and flora, an expansion–contraction model has been suggested, whereby temperate species were restricted to southern refugia during glacial times and expanded northwards during interglacials, including the present interglacial ( H olocene). Here, we test this model on the red deer ( C ervus elaphus ) a large and highly mobile herbivore, using both modern and ancient mitochondrial DNA from the entire European range of the species over the last c . 40 000 years. Our results indicate that this species was sensitive to the effects of climate change. Prior to the L ast G lacial M aximum ( LGM ) haplogroups restricted today to S outh‐ E ast E urope and W estern Asia reached as far west as the UK . During the LGM , red deer was mainly restricted to southern refugia, in Iberia, the Balkans and possibly in Italy and S outh‐ W estern A sia. At the end of the LGM , red deer expanded from the Iberian refugium, to C entral and N orthern E urope, including the UK , B elgium, S candinavia, G ermany, P oland and B elarus. Ancient DNA data cannot rule out refugial survival of red deer in N orth‐ W est E urope through the LGM . Had such deer survived, though, they were replaced by deer migrating from Iberia at the end of the glacial. The Balkans served as a separate LGM refugium and were probably connected to W estern A sia with genetic exchange between the two areas.