Patterns of Morphological Variability in Reintroduced Populations with Two Beaver Subspecies Castor fiber orientoeuropaeus and Castor fiber belorussicus (Castoridae, Rodentia) as an Example

摘要

The pattern of morphological variability in translocated groups of mammals has been studied based on the example of two beaver subspecies {Castor fiber orientoeuropaeus and Castor fiber belorussicus) with the documented history of population formation. The variability in the quantitative and quantitative traits in the formed populations is not characterized by a single direction. The main trend is an increase in the diversity of adaptive norms in relation to body sizes. A slightly marked increase isobserved in the level of fluctuating asymmetry, a reduction in polymorphisms in nonmetric traits, and an increase in the percentage of rare aberrations that may be associated with inbreeding taking place during the formation of prapopulations. The results of this study allow this intraspecific differentiation to be considered an effect of adaptive variability (adaptatiogenesis) or subspecies hybridization. As for stochastic processes (gene drift and founder effect), they seem to have no significant effect on the morphological variability. The differences between non-metric and metric traits indicate the peculiarity of population groups.