EPIGENETIC VARIATION AND POPULATION UNIQUENESS OF THE FOREST DORMOUSE (DRYOMYS NITEDULA) AS REVEALED BY CRANIOLOGICAL NONMETRIC TRAITS

Markov G., ÇOLAK E., YİĞİT N., Dimitrov H.

COMPTES RENDUS DE L ACADEMIE BULGARE DES SCIENCES, cilt.70, sa.3, ss.381-386, 2017 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 70 Sayı: 3
  • Basım Tarihi: 2017
  • Dergi Adı: COMPTES RENDUS DE L ACADEMIE BULGARE DES SCIENCES
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.381-386
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Dryomys nitedula, forest dormouse, cranial epigenetic non-metrical traits, population uniqueness, genetic divergence
  • Ankara Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Variation of ten non-metric traits was studied on the skulls of 244 specimens of the forest dormouse (Dryomys nitedula) from eight populations inhabiting the region of Central Anatolia in Asia Minor, the South-eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula and Central Southeast Europe. It was demonstrated that genetic variation and divergence among populations of forest dormouse inhabiting research area could be assessed by applying sufficient number of useful nonmetric skull characters. As a result, population epigenetic variation and epigenetic distance between populations were established and their uniqueness was evaluated. The comparative evaluation of the population epigenetic uniqueness of forest dormouse from the studied area revealed their well-expressed cranial epigenetic detachment. It was postulated that the use of cranial epigenetic data in combination with other methods of phylogenetic reconstruction may result in a revision of the subspecies level in taxonomy of Dryomys nitedula in its Palearctic area and may provide support for different conservation or management strategies for some of its populations.