0000000000969995
AUTHOR
Jean-pierre Quéré
Exploring phylogeography and species limits in the Altai vole (Rodentia: Cricetidae)
Natural hybridization between species is not a rare event. In arvicoline rodents, hybridization is known to occur in the wild and/or in captivity. In the Microtus arvalis group, cytogenetic studies revealed that there were two distinct chromosomal forms (2n = 46 but a different fundamental number of autosomes). These forms have been attributed to two cryptic species: the common (arvalis) and Altai (obscurus) voles. Recently, individuals with intermediate karyotypes (F1 and backcrosses) were discovered in central European Russia, and, for this reason, other studies have regarded obscurus and arvalis as conspecific. In the present study, to address the question of the species limits in the Al…
New insight into the colonization processes of common voles: inferences from molecular and fossil evidence.
Biologie et Gestion des Populations, Campus International de Baillarguet, Montferrier/Lez, FranceElucidating the colonization processes associated with Quaternary climatic cycles is important in order to understand the distribution of biodiversity and the evolutionary potential of temperate plant and animal species. In Europe, general evolutionary scenarios have been defined from genetic evidence. Recently, these scenarios have been challenged with genetic as well as fossil data. The origins of the modern distributions of most temperate plant and animal species could predate the Last Glacial Maximum. The glacial survival of such populations may have occurred in either southern (Mediterranea…
Mitochondrial DNA Gene Diversity and Morphological Variability of the Common Vole (Microtus arvalis) in France
International audience
Population dynamics of fossorial water vole (Arvicola terrestris scherman): a land use and landscape perspective
Abstract This study investigates the effect of land use, and landscape composition and structure on the population dynamics of fossorial water vole (Arvicola terrestris scherman Shaw). Water vole populations were monitored from 1989 to 1994 in the Doubs department, France, by using index methods. Land use patterns were studied based on agriculture and forestry data from the French Ministry of Agriculture collected in 1956, 1970, 1979 and 1988. Grassland quality and landscape structure were studied based on field transects, combined with the assessment of landscape structure from maps at 1:25,000 scale. Outbreaks of water vole populations occurred as a wave, spreading from epicentres over mo…
Effect of landscape structure on common vole (Microtus arvalis) distribution and abundance at several space scales
This paper aims to answer the following question: are the fluctuations of abundance of Common Vole (Microtus arvalis) specific to different types of landscapes? The research was carried out in landscapes where grassland was dominant. The sampling method was based upon a partition in both landscape types and landscape units. Tracking of vole indices was used to evaluate their relative abundance. Six landscape transects were sampled during two successive years. Results show that population variation and diffusion of demographic states are closely related to landscape types. The possible causes of this are discussed. The landscape units can be used as global variables to assess outbreak risk a…
Reappraisal of ‘chronospecies' and the use of Arvicola (Rodentia, Mammalia) for biochronology.
13 pages; International audience; The water vole, genus Arvicola, is characterised by a broad geographic distribution throughout Europe and is widespread during the late Middle and Upper Pleistocene. This genus is used as a major biostratigraphic tool within the Quaternary. Specific determinations using the Schmelzband-Differenzierung-Quotient or SDQ have identified many chronospecies within the fossil species Arvicola cantiana (Hinton, 1910). As SDQ calculation remains limited, this study reappraises the Arvicola genus in terms of morphodiversity and morphospace using outline analysis which takes into account the tooth as a whole. Outline analysis suggests that one single species of Arvico…
Karyological and dental identification of Microtus limnophilus in a large focus of alveolar echinococcosis (Gansu, China).
International audience; A study of voles (Arvicolidae, Rodentia) from Gansu (China) designed to identify a potential host of Echinococcus multilocularis, responsible for human alveolar echinococcosis, leads to a general analysis of Microtus limnophilus population karyotypes, M1 of M. oeconomus populations from all of Eurasia and of M. limnophilus of Mongolia. The Microtus of Gansu belonging to the nominal subspecies M. limnophilus limnophilus (2n = 38; NF = 58) differs markedly in size and shape of M1 from the M. limnophilus of Mongolia, which must therefore be considered as a new subspecies M. limnophilus of malygini nov. ssp. (2n = 38; NF = 60) and the M. oeconomus of Mongolia should be r…