Science exchange logo white
  • Solutions
      Buyers

      We are making R&D services readily available to every organization that seeks to make scientific impact. Learn More

      Providers

      We are changing the way providers access and engage customers to streamline the sale and delivery of R&D services. Learn More

      Industries Agriscience Animal Health Basic Research Biopharmaceutical Chemicals Consumer Health Food Science Medical Devices
      Reproducibility

      We believe that good experiments can and should be independently replicated and validated. Learn More

  • Resources
    Innovation Blog
    Customer Stories
    Events
    Industry Trends
    News
    Product Updates
    Help Center
  • About
    About
    Our Story
    Leadership
    Partners
    Join the Team
  • Contact
  • Log In Sign Up
  • Get a Demo
  • Ancient mitochondrial DNA and the genetic history of Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) in Europe.

    Mol Ecol. 23(7):1717-29. April 2014. View on PubMed.
  • Authors

    Horn S, Prost S, Stiller M, Makowiecki D, Kuznetsova T, Benecke N, Pucher E, Hufthammer AK, Schouwenburg C, Shapiro B, and Hofreiter M
  • Abstract

    After centuries of human hunting, the Eurasian beaver Castor fiber had disappeared from most of its original range by the end of the 19th century. The surviving relict populations are characterized by both low genetic diversity and strong phylogeographical structure. However, it remains unclear whether these attributes are the result of a human-induced, late Holocene bottleneck or already existed prior to this reduction in range. To investigate genetic diversity in Eurasian beaver populations during the Holocene, we obtained mitochondrial control region DNA sequences from 48 ancient beaver samples and added 152 modern sequences from GenBank. Phylogeographical analyses of the data indicate a differentiation of European beaver populations into three mitochondrial clades. The two main clades occur in western and eastern Europe, respectively, with an early Holocene contact zone in eastern Europe near a present-day contact zone. A divergent and previously unknown clade of beavers from the Danube Basin survived until at least 6000 years ago, but went extinct during the transition to modern times. Finally, we identify a recent decline in effective population size of Eurasian beavers, with a stronger bottleneck signal in the western than in the eastern clade. Our results suggest that the low genetic diversity and the strong phylogeographical structure in recent beavers are artefacts of human hunting-associated population reductions. While beaver populations have been growing rapidly since the late 19th century, genetic diversity within modern beaver populations remains considerably reduced compared to what was present prior to the period of human hunting and habitat reduction.

Science exchange logo white

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Solutions

  • Buyers
  • Providers
  • Reproducibility

Industries

  • Agriscience
  • Animal Health
  • Basic Research
  • Biopharmaceutical
  • Chemicals
  • Consumer Health
  • Food Science
  • Medical Devices

Resources

  • Innovation Blog
  • Customer Stories
  • Events
  • Industry Trends
  • News
  • Product Updates

About

  • Our Story
  • Leadership
  • Partners
  • Join the Team

Support

  • Contact Us
  • Help Center
  • Trust
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 Science Exchange, Inc. All rights reserved.