Genetic structure of Central European populations of hedgehogs Erinaceus europaeus and E. roumanicus

In the Czech Republic there is a wide zone of sympatric occurrence of two hedgehog species - Erinaceus europaeus and E. roumanicus, which is of Holocene origin. This work is based on genetic data obtained in 248 specimens, the sampling was focused on the area of Central Europe. We have used 410 bp long partial sequence of mtDNA control region and 9 microsatellite loci. With aid of different methods, we attempted to reveal details of distributions, population structure, demographic history and potential gene flow between both species. We have detected significantly higher occurrence of E. europaeus (3 times) compared to E. roumanicus and the shift of range borders in scale of tens of kilometers in last 30 years. Genetic variability was higher in E. europaeus. In E. roumanicus, there was support for moderate population increase, while the population size in E. europaeus seems to be stable. We have detected deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in some loci, which could be ascribed to the Wahlund effect. We did not detect existence of hybridization or introgression, the complete precopulatory reproductive barriers have been formed supposedly. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org