Frantz, A.C., Viglino, A., Wilwert, E. et al. (15 more authors) (2022) Conservation by trans-border cooperation: population genetic structure and diversity of geoffroy’s bat (Myotis emarginatus) at its north-western european range edge. Biodiversity and Conservation, 31. pp. 925-948. ISSN 0960-3115
Abstract
In the European Union, all bat species are strictly protected and member states must ensure their conservation. However, if populations are genetically structured, conservation units that correspond to whole countries may be too large, putting small populations with specific conservation requirements at risk. Geoffroy’s bat (Myotis emarginatus) has undergone well-documented declines at its north-western European range edge between the 1960 and 1990s and is considered to be negatively affected by habitat fragmentation. Here we analysed the species’ genetic population structure and diversity to identify subpopulations with reduced genetic diversity and to scientifically inform conservation management. We generated 811 microsatellite-based genetic profiles obtained from 42 European nursery colonies and analysed a total of 932 sequences of the hypervariable region II of the mitochondrial control region sampled from across Europe. While two geographically widespread genetic populations were inferred to be present in north-western Europe, both nuclear and mitochondrial genetic diversity were lowest in the areas that had experienced a decline during the last century. A microsatellite-based analysis of demographic history did not permit, however, to unequivocally link that reduced genetic diversity to the population contraction event. Given the large geographic extent of the genetic populations, preserving the connectivity of mating sites requires concerted conservation efforts across multiple political jurisdictions. Genetic monitoring ought to be done on a regular basis to ensure that large-scale connectivity is maintained and further loss of genetic diversity is prevented.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2022. Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Conservation genetics; Faecal DNA; Genetic diversity; Population structure; Notched-eared bat; Spatial ecology |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 19 May 2022 14:24 |
Last Modified: | 10 Feb 2023 14:13 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s10531-022-02371-3 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:187061 |
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