Post-glacial colonisation of Europe by the wood mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus : evidence of a northern refugium and dispersal with humans

Herman, J; Jóhannesdóttir, F; Jones, E; McDevitt, A; Michaux, J; White, T; Wojcik, J; Searle, J

Abstract

The wood mouse Apodemus sylvaticus is an opportunistic rodent that is found throughout most of
the European mainland. It is present on many islands around the margins of the continent and in
northern Africa. The species has been the subject of previous phylogeographic studies but these
have focussed on the more southerly part of its range. A substantial number of new samples,
many of them from the periphery of the species’ range, contribute to an exceptional dataset
comprising 981 mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences. These new data provide sufficient
resolution to transform our understanding of the species’ survival through the last glaciation and
its subsequent re-colonisation of the continent. The deepest genetic split we found is in
agreement with previous studies and runs from the Alps to central Ukraine, but we further
distinguish two separate lineages in wood mice to the north and west of this line. It is likely that
this part of Europe was colonised from two refugia, putatively located in the Iberian peninsula and
the Dordogne or Carpathian region. The wood mouse therefore joins the growing number of
species with extant populations that appear to have survived the Last Glacial Maximum in
northern refugia, rather than solely in traditionally recognised refugial locations in the southern
European peninsulas. Furthermore, the existence of a northern refugium for the species was
predicted in a study of mitochondrial variation in a specific parasite of the wood mouse,
demonstrating the potential value of data from parasites to phylogeographic studies. Lastly, the
presence of related haplotypes in widely disparate locations, often on islands or separated by
substantial bodies of water, demonstrates the propensity of the wood mouse for accidental
human-mediated transport.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 11, 2016
• Publication Date: Sep 9, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jul 15, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 9, 2017
• Journal: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
• Print ISSN: 0024-4066
• Electronic ISSN: 1095-8312
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Volume: 120
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 313-332
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bij.12882
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bij.12882
• Related Public URLs: https://www.linnean.org/