Aplicación de herramientas moleculares para la gestión y conservación de especies de mamíferos de interés conservacionista

Abstract

This PhD Thesis is based on the use of molecular tools to obtain relevant information for the conservation and management of three mammal species of the Iberian Peninsula. The use of non-invasive sampling such as stool samples or the use of roadkill animals is considered the lynchpin of this work. The first part includes chapters 1 and 2, in which the evolutionary relationships between the mitochondrial genealogical lineages (fragment of the Control region or D-loop) of red squirrel populations Sciurus vulgaris from the Iberian Peninsula and other european populations are studied, using samples from roadkill animals. We also studied the genetic peculiarities of the squirrels of Sierra Espuña (Murcia), considered as representatives of a differentiated subspecies S. v. hoffmanni. In this first part a genealogical distinction was observed for the Iberian populations, indicating a probable differentiated evolutionary history and supporting the hypothesis that the Iberian Peninsula could act as a glacial refuge for the red squirrel after the last glaciation. On the other hand, an extremely low genetic variability was detected in the populations of southeast Iberia, especially in Sierra Espuña. Finally, no genetic peculiarities (genealogical differentiation) were observed for the subspecies S. v. hoffmanni, suggesting that the morphological characteristics described for this population could be the result of a genetic bottleneck caused by the massive deforestation of the forests during the 19th century. The second part contains chapter 3 and focuses on the study of the Murcian population of otter Lutra lutra. For this, samples from faeces were collected in the Segura river and its tributaries. The DNA of these samples was individualized to study the number of different specimens that make up the population. Through the use of 13 microsatellite loci and a sex marker (ZFX / ZFY), 14 different individuals were genetically characterized. A geographic criterion and the sex ratio was used to suggest a probable population of 40 individuals in the Segura river and its tributaries in its Murcian section. The methodology for a genetic monitoring of the species was optimized. The third and last part contains chapter 4, where the degree of introgresive hybridization present in the Iberian wildcats were studied, usign samples from roadkill or found-dead animals. This study were also focussed in a specific population of the southeast Iberia (Murcia-Alicante). Through the use of 80 SNPs designed to detect hybridization between wild cats and feral domestic cats, little hybridization was detected in the Iberian samples, with the exception of the population of Murcia-Alicante. In this intensely sampled population, the 59.1% of the analyzed specimens turned out to be second-generation hybrids and, mostly, result of backcrossing with domestic cats. Although the sampling bias (roadkills) does not represent the stable population of wildcats, the level of hybridization detected is worrisome and suggests the need for a more exhaustive study of the population of Murcia-Alicante and the effect of the barriers that surround or divide the subpopulations (highways and water flows).