The genetics of the European polecat in the Iberian Peninsula

Abstract

Volunteer-based roadkill monitoring schemes, including road carcass sampling, can represent considerable advances with respect to classical methods employed in conservation biology. We studied the genetic diversity, structure, and dynamics of the European polecat (Mustela putorius) across the Iberian Peninsula. We used samples of road carcasses collected by volunteers because this carnivore is an elusive species otherwise difficult to monitor with standard field protocols. We gathered 238 samples obtained from 2004 to 2022 from 13 different areas (8–31 samples/area). Using microsatellite loci, we identified 4 genetic units with gene flow among 3 of them in the Iberian Peninsula. The genetic variability was steadily low in 1 of the areas (Girona) for all the parameters evaluated. This area is also genetically isolated from the other studied areas. The inbreeding coefficient was significant in the north- and south-Iberia units, and we did not detect a bottleneck signature in any of the 4 genetic units. Future conservation actions should consider the genetic dissimilarity among detected units and elucidate the ecological factors that have led to the observed genetic patterns.