TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ziege, Madlen
A1  - Theodorou, Panagiotis
A1  - Jüngling, Hannah
A1  - Merker, Stefan
A1  - Plath, Martin
A1  - Streit, Bruno
A1  - Lerp, Hannes
T1  - Population genetics of the European rabbit along a rural-to-urban gradient
T2  - Scientific Reports
N2  - The 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.
KW  - Conservation biology
KW  - Genetics
Y1  - 2020
UR  - https://publishup.uni-potsdam.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/46034
SN  - 2045-2322
VL  - 10
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - London
ER  -