Effect of Translocations on the Genetic Structure in Populations of the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) in Poland

Abstract

The red deer (Cervus elaphus) has been translocated across Europe, including Poland in order to improve the quality of local populations of the animal. The aim of the study was to assess the result of the translocations by microsatellite DNA analysis based determination of phylogenetic differences between red deer populations from seven regions of Poland, i.e. Lubelskie, Warmińsko-Mazurskie, Pomorskie, Zachodniopomorskie, Opolskie, Śląskie, and Wielkopolskie Provinces. Loci BMC1009, IDVGA55, INRA121, NVHRT48, CSSM41, and BM757 were analysed. All analyses were performed with the consent of the Local Ethics Committee 0071, Resolution No. 13/2014. The mean value of H_o in the red deer populations was at a level of 0.457, H_e 0.613, and the PIC value in all red deer groups was higher than 5.000, which indicates a large genetic diversity in this species in Poland. The value of the F_ST coefficient (0.17) was similar to the mean value noted in Cervus elaphus in Europe (0.166). However, the F_IS and F_IT coefficients were relatively high (0.259 and 0.334, respectively), which may imply the existence of internal structures in individual subpopulations. Additionally, the bottleneck effect could not be excluded due to the negative F_IS and F_IT values in locus BMC1009 (–0.260 and –0.071, respectively) and the excess of H_e relative to H_eq.