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Origin of, and conservation units in, the Irish red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) population

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Abstract

Knowledge of genetic relationships among wildlife populations is fundamental to their conservation, particularly where translocations are concerned. This study involved a survey of mitochondrial DNA variation in the Irish red squirrel population. Our main aims were: (1) to determine whether the Irish red squirrel population is distinct from that found in Britain, given known translocations that took place from Britain in the 1800’s; and (2) whether inclusion of Irish data into a reanalysis of European red squirrel data could reveal patterns of postglacial spread in Ireland. We found evidence that the current Irish red squirrel population may be a mixture of native and translocated stock, and relationships between Irish and European haplotypes supported a number of colonisation events of the island. Although only one haplotype was common to both Ireland and Britain, it is probable that the most common haplotypes in Ireland are British introductions that have since become extinct in Britain. There was a significant regional genetic structure in Ireland (P < 0.001), as well as between all Irish and British regions. Although it is likely that the red squirrel will not be fundamental in tracing the colonisation of Ireland by mammals, the data demonstrated that individual regions within Ireland, as well as the Irish population as a whole, are distinct both from the British population and from each other and, therefore, these populations should be treated as separate Management Units (MU) in conservation strategies.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the people who provided samples for this study, notably Alan Poole and Geoff Hamilton. We are grateful to the Natural History Museum Dublin for allowing access to their collection and we would particularly like to thank Nigel Monaghan and Sylviane Vaucheret. Trapping during this study was carried out under license by the NPWS and we are grateful to both them and Coillte for allowing access to their sites and for assistance in the field. Invaluable laboratory guidance was provided by Victoria Dalton and Graham Little. Thanks to Marie Hale for help with DNA extraction and for positive controls from her research, and to Mark Brown for allowing access to his laboratory equipment. We also wish to thank technical staff of the Zoology Dept. for their assistance throughout. We are grateful to the referees for improvements to this manuscript. This work was funded by an Irish Research Council for Science Engineering and Technology Postgraduate Scholarship under the Embark Initiative.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wildlife Ecology Group, Department of Zoology, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

    Laura A. Finnegan & John M. Rochford

  2. Molecular Population Genetics, Smurfit Institute, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

    Ceiridwen J. Edwards

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  1. Laura A. Finnegan
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  2. Ceiridwen J. Edwards
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  3. John M. Rochford
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Correspondence to Laura A. Finnegan.

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Finnegan, L.A., Edwards, C.J. & Rochford, J.M. Origin of, and conservation units in, the Irish red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) population. Conserv Genet 9, 1099–1109 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-007-9419-7

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