The Anatolian glacial refugium and human-mediated colonization: a phylogeographical study of the stone marten (Martes foina) in Turkey


Creative Commons License

Arslan Y., Demirtaş S., Herman J. S., Pustilnik J. D., Searle J. B., Gündüz İ.

BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY, vol.129, no.2, pp.470-491, 2020 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 129 Issue: 2
  • Publication Date: 2020
  • Doi Number: 10.1093/biolinnean/blz180
  • Journal Name: BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, Animal Behavior Abstracts, Applied Science & Technology Source, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), Artic & Antarctic Regions, BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, Geobase, Veterinary Science Database
  • Page Numbers: pp.470-491
  • Keywords: Anatolia, FGB7, glacial refugium, mitochondrial DNA, phylogeography, MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA VARIATION, CYTOCHROME-B GENE, POPULATION-GROWTH, HAPLOTYPE RECONSTRUCTION, HYMENOPTERA CYNIPIDAE, MOLECULAR EVOLUTION, STATISTICAL-METHOD, HISTORY, PHYLOGENY, MUSTELIDAE
  • Ondokuz Mayıs University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

The Anatolian Peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is situated at the junction of Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Together with its complex geomorphological and climatic history, this has given rise to a rich fauna and flora, which exhibits a wide range of historical biogeographical patterns. The stone marten (Martes foina) is a small carnivore that is found across the temperate Palaearctic region including Anatolia, where it is often associated with habitats modified by humans, but few genetic data exist for this species. We sequenced a 1840-bp region of the mitochondrial genome from 97 martens sampled across the peninsula and intron 7 of the nuclear 13-fibrinogen gene from 53 of these. Two mitochondrial lineages were recovered, with overlapping eastern and western distributions, but there was no geographical structure for the autosomal marker. Coalescent analyses indicated that both of the lineages originated during the Last Glacial Maximum, one of them within an eastern Anatolian refugium and the other in a western Anatolian or Balkan refugium. The western lineage colonized most of Europe in the Holocene, while the eastern lineage may be endemic to Anatolia, from where it colonized the Iberian Peninsula via human translocation. The presence of at least one refugial stone marten population highlights the importance of Anatolia to the preservation of genetic variation and biodiversity.