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The objective of our study was to assess the genetic differentiation between the two hypothesized forest-field ecotypes of Roe deer in Lithuania by the aid of five nuclear microsatellite DNR markers. A total of 79 roe deer individuals were sampled covering parts of Lithuania, and assigned as geographical replicates of the two ecotypes based on the location they were culled. However, the AMOVA revealed no significant genetic differentiation between the field and forest ecotypes (Rst=0, n.s.; Fst=0.009, n.s.). Furthermore, no marked differences in genetic diversity parameters such as heterozygosity and allelic richness were observed. Only a slight difference in the mean number of private alleles was observed with 2,4 and 1,4 for forest and field ecotypes, respectively. We conclude that the most likely reasons for low genetic differentiation between the field and forest ectypes in Lithuania are genome sharing between the two ecotypes via mating or common recent genetic background. Thus, the putative adaptive differentiation of Roe deer into the two ecotype habitats may suggest that forest and field ecotypes are formed due to their living environments, implying that phenotypic plasticity may be important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of our study was to assess the genetic differentiation between the two hypothesized forest-field ecotypes of Roe deer in Lithuania by the aid of five nuclear microsatellite DNR markers. A total of 79 roe deer individuals were sampled covering parts of Lithuania, and assigned as geographical replicates of the two ecotypes based on the location they were culled. However, the AMOVA revealed no significant genetic differentiation between the field and forest ecotypes (Rst=0, n.s.; Fst=0.009, n.s.). Furthermore, no marked differences in genetic diversity parameters such as heterozygosity and allelic richness were observed. Only a slight difference in the mean number of private alleles was observed with 2,4 and 1,4 for forest and field ecotypes, respectively. We conclude that the most likely reasons for low genetic differentiation between the field and forest ectypes in Lithuania are genome sharing between the two ecotypes via mating or common recent genetic background. Thus, the putative adaptive differentiation of Roe deer into the two ecotype habitats may suggest that forest and field ecotypes are formed due to their living environments, implying that phenotypic plasticity may be important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]