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Background: Understanding the processes that lead to hybridization of wolves and dogs is of scientific and management importance, particularly over large geographical scales, as wolves can disperse great distances. However, a method to efficiently detect hybrids in routine wolf monitoring is lacking. Microsatellites offer only limited resolution due to the low number of markers showing distinctive allele frequencies between wolves and dogs. Moreover, calibration across laboratories is time-consuming and costly. In this study, we selected a panel of 96 ancestry informative markers for wolves and dogs, derived from the Illumina CanineHD Whole-Genome BeadChip (174 K). We designed very short amplicons for genotyping on a microfluidic array, thus making the method suitable also for non-invasively collected samples.
Results: Genotypes based on 93 SNPs from wolves sampled throughout Europe, purebred and non-pedigree dogs, and suspected hybrids showed that the new panel accurately identifies parental individuals, first-generation hybrids and first-generation backcrosses to wolves, while second- and third-generation backcrosses to wolves were identified as advanced hybrids in almost all cases. Our results support the hybrid identity of suspect individuals and the non-hybrid status of individuals regarded as wolves. We also show the adequacy of these markers to assess hybridization at a European-wide scale and the importance of including samples from reference populations.
Conclusions: We showed that the proposed SNP panel is an efficient tool for detecting hybrids up to the third-generation backcrosses to wolves across Europe. Notably, the proposed genotyping method is suitable for a variety of samples, including non-invasive and museum samples, making this panel useful for wolf-dog hybrid assessments and wolf monitoring at both continental and different temporal scales.
Wolves (Canis lupus) are currently showing a remarkable comeback in the highly frag-mented cultural landscapes of Germany. We here show that wolf numbers increasedexponentially between 2000 and 2015 with an annual increase of about 36%. Wedemonstrate that the first territories in each newly colonized region were establishedover long distances from the nearest known reproducing pack on active militarytraining areas (MTAs). We show that MTAs, rather than protected areas, served asstepping-stones for the recolonization of Germany facilitating subsequent spreadingof wolf territories in the surrounding landscape. We did not find any significant differ-ence between MTAs and protected areas with regard to habitat. One possible reasonfor the importance of MTAs may be their lower anthropogenic mortality rates com-pared to protected and other areas. To our knowledge, this is the first documented casewhere MTAs facilitate the recolonization of an endangered species across large areas.
Canis lupus, der Wolf, kommt verstärkt und etappenweise in seine angestammten deutschen Siedlungsgebiete zurück. Nachdem es in Sachsen vor 5 Jahren die erste Beobachtung eines Wolfsrudels (Elterntiere und 4 Jungtiere) gab und seither in der Oberlausitz alljährlich Reproduktionsnachweise gelangen, soll zum Anfang des Jahres ein etwa 10 Monate alter Jungwolf in der Altmark beobachtet worden sein.
Das Ruten-Hasenohr (Bupleurum virgatum CAV.) kommt in Deutschland ausschließlich im Selketal vor und ist in Mitteleuropa vom Aussterben bedroht. Die nächsten Vorkommen dieser Art befinden sich in Frankreich im Tal der Loire sowie im Rhône-Tal. Der Verbreitungsschwerpunkt des Ruten-Hasenohrs liegt in Südwesteuropa. Dort ist die Art auf offenen, trockenen Standorten sowie am Rande von Feldern anzutreffen.