A genetic study of sika (Cervus nippon) in the New Forest and in the Purbeck region, southern England: is there evidence of recent or past hybridization with red deer (Cervus elaphus)?

摘要

Sika Cervus nippon are native to Japan and East Asia but are now naturalized in many parks of the world, including Britain. In contrast to the substantial body of research on the extent of hybridization between sika and red deer Cervus elaphus in Scottish populations, there has been little genetic analysis of the English populations of sika. Sika in England still have a patchy and discontinuous distribution; populations are thus still genetically isolated and may be expected to show higher variability in genetic type. The current paper uses DNA-based techniques to explore the genetic composition of sika in the New Forest (Hampshire) and that of sika from the largest population in England, in the Purbeck region (Dorset). The study aims were to determine whether New Forest sika show signs of recent interbreeding with New Forest red deer populations, whether New Forest sika are genetically distinct from Purbeck sika, and whether New Forest and Purbeck sika show evidence of past hybridization or whether they are pure (non-hybrid) strains. Microsatellite analysis was used to compare the genetic profiles of individual deer. Results showed that sika and red deer in the New Forest were genetically distinct, indicating that there is no large-scale in situhybridization occurring between these feral populations. In terms of overall genetic composition, there was no significant difference between the sika in the New Forest and Purbeck. However, a more detailed analysis found that New Forest sika showed a lower level of introgression with red deer compared with the Purbeck sika. We conclude that, overall, the New Forest sika deer do appear to be more genetically pure bred than the Purbeck sika.