hybridization among three native north american canis species in a region of natural sympatry三个本地北美犬属物种之间的杂交自然分布区重叠的区域.pdfVIP

Hybridization among Three Native North American Canis Species in a Region of Natural Sympatry Frank Hailer1,2, Jennifer A. Leonard1,2* 1 Department of Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, 2 Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, National Zoological Park National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., United States of America Abstract Background: Population densities of many species throughout the world are changing due to direct persecution as well as anthropogenic habitat modification. These changes may induce or increase the frequency of hybridization among taxa. If extensive, hybridization can threaten the genetic integrity or survival of endangered species. Three native species of the genus Canis, coyote (C. latrans), Mexican wolf (C. lupus baileyi) and red wolf (C. rufus), were historically sympatric in Texas, United States. Human impacts caused the latter two to go extinct in the wild, although they survived in captive breeding programs. Morphological data demonstrate historic reproductive isolation between all three taxa. While the red wolf population was impacted by introgressive hybridization with coyotes as it went extinct in the wild, the impact of hybridization on the Texas populations of the other species is not clear. Methodology/ Principal Findings: We surveyed variation at maternally and paternally inherited genetic markers (mitochondrial control region sequence and Y chromosome microsatellites) in coyotes from Texas, Mexican wolves and red wolves from the captive breeding programs, and a reference population of coyotes from outside the historic red wolf range. Levels of variation and phylogenetic analyses suggest that hybridization has occasionally taken place between