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Genetic characterization of populations of the golden jackal and the red fox in Israel

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Abstract

The golden jackal and red fox are among the wildlife species protected by Israeli law as enforced by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. In 1964, as a part of a management program to control rabies in Israel, a poison eradication campaign was launched to exterminate golden jackals, considered to be the main reservoir of the disease. The program resulted in the near-complete extermination of jackals in Israel, while foxes were only mildly affected. Jackals have since regained their original numbers and have recolonized southern Israel. We here examined the population structure of the golden jackal and red fox in Israel, 48 years after the poison eradication campaign. DNA from 88 golden jackals and 89 red foxes representing five different geographic regions was extracted and amplified at 13 microsatellite loci in order to characterize the populations on a genetic level. High genetic diversity was found among the jackal and fox populations. A possible migration route through the Jordan Rift Valley was suggested for both species by the genetic similarity of populations in northern and southern Israel. However, in both species, the animals from the center of Israel were distinctive from those north or south, indicating the relative isolation of central populations, likely due to fragmentation or a high abundance of food resources. Genetic profiles obtained for the golden jackal and the red fox in Israel may aid in their conservation management and in the study of zoonotic diseases.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all rangers of the INPA who helped in collecting the samples, Dr. M. Menotti-Raymond, Dr. A. Roca, Mr. S. Polani, and Mrs. L. Hadas for their critical reading and comments, and Mrs. H. Motro for graphical assistance. This study was supported by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority grant “The study of genetic diversity among golden jackals and red foxes populations”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 76100, Rehovot, Israel

    Tali Magory Cohen, Anat Lichter-Peled & Gila Kahila Bar-Gal

  2. Nature and Parks Authority, Jerusalem, Israel

    Roni King & Amitzur Boldo

  3. Israel Mammal Research Centre, The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, 66183, Tel-Aviv, Israel

    Amit Dolev

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  1. Tali Magory Cohen
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Correspondence to Gila Kahila Bar-Gal.

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Magory Cohen, T., King, R., Dolev, A. et al. Genetic characterization of populations of the golden jackal and the red fox in Israel. Conserv Genet 14, 55–63 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-012-0423-1

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