Relationship between environmental variables and genetic structure of wild ungulate populations

Understanding how environmental modifications, and especially those caused by humans, influence biological systems represents the first step toward the establishment of effective approaches for the conservation of global biodiversity. However, aspects concerning the genetic consequences of such changes would require the combination of knowledges on population genetics, eco-ethology, spatial and landscape ecology, and are still improving, thank to the increase of studied cases and to the development of new statistical approaches. The Landscape Genetics tries to integrate approaches of population genetics with landscape ecology with the aim to explain the observed genetic patterns.Here I analyzed the genetic variability and structure of populations of the two most abundant ungulate species in Europe, wild boar (Sus scrofa) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). In each species, genetic variation was analyzed at two different geographical scales, highlighting how climate, land use and landscape features, differently and together with direct human action, can influence gene flow. Phylogeographic patterns in the European continent seem to be influenced mostly by past climatic events (Last Glacial Maximum), while local genetic differentiation results from local landscape characteristics and human management of populations.