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Illumination at night is determined by moon phase, naturally affecting the reproductive activities of nocturnal animals. The European badger (Meles meles Linnaeus, 1758) is a large-sized mustelid that lives throughout Bulgaria. Since information on its reproductive activity is scarce for the country, a two-year camera trap survey was conducted at five main setts. It aimed to establish the mating period of the badger, as well as some behavioral activities of the observed individuals in a semi-mountainous area in Central Bulgaria (Sarnena Sredna gora Mts). In the present study, badger mating behavior was only observed in winter. Winter is the main breeding period for badgers from Central Bulgaria, which corresponds to greater activity in front of the setts. Darker lunar phases (i.e., new moon) significantly increased the badger's reproductive activities at their setts. Further research is needed to elucidate the underlying mechanism responsible for the nocturnality and preferences to darkness of reproductive badgers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to investigate the detailed zoogeographical history of brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Bulgaria and their relationships with populations in neighboring regions of Europe and Asia, the amplified product length polymorphism (APLP) method for the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogrouping was applied to ancient bone remains. The results showed that haplogroups for 12 of 31 samples (38.7%) were successfully classified using the APLP method, although partial sequences of the mtDNA control region were determined with PCR product-direct sequencing for only 6 samples (19.4%). Even among 25 samples, of which nucleotide sequences could not be determined, the APLP method successfully classified haplogroups of 6 samples (6/25, 24.0%), indicating an advantage of the APLP method. In Bulgaria, although both the Balkan/Italian lineage of mtDNA (clade 1b) and the Eastern European lineage (clade 3a1) have been identified from modern bears as reported in other studies, all bear remains examined in the present study had APLP haplogroup W. The mtDNA phylogenetic analysis showed that the ancient Bulgarian brown bears had clade 1b. This indicates that clade 1b was originally distributed in Bulgaria, whereas those with clade 3a1 could have entered from Romania to Bulgaria. In addition, the APLP and phylogenetic analysis of recent skin samples from Turkey showed that they have mtDNA of the Middle Eastern/Turkish lineage (referred to clade 7a). Therefore, Bulgaria on the Balkan Peninsula might have been located between two distribution borders: one is between clades 1b and 3a1, and the other is between clades 1b and 7. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the impacts of the legal and illegal wildlife trade are broadly recognised for flagship species (e.g., elephant, rhino and tiger), less is known about how exploitation affects more common, and less charismatic species. This is of especial concern in Asia in general, and particularly in China, where demands for wild game species, and derived products are increasing, but a lack of data on illegal bushmeat hunting limits the development of effective species and ecosystem conservation measures. Genetic monitoring provides an informative tool to assess the pressures on regional populations, particularly for species that are difficult to monitor, for example, using arboreal or subterranean refugia. Here, using microsatellite markers, we investigated the effect of hunting on the genetic diversity of a regional population of the hog badger. Samples were collected from hog badgers confiscated from illegal traffickers and local hunters by forest authorities in the market towns of Wufeng and Yuguan, which lie 40 km apart in Hubei Province, China. To isolate novel hog badger microsatellite loci, we constructed a biotin-enriched microsatellite DNA library. Furthermore, we also tested the suitability of microsatellite loci designed for the European badger in the hog badger. Using these microsatellite markers, we found that these seized hog badgers exhibited a high level of genetic diversity-mean alleles per locus ( A) were 8.33 and mean expected heterozygosities ( H) were 0.77. Despite 40 km separation between sample sites, spatial segregation was not apparent from genetics. This suggests that our confiscated hog badgers belong to the same meta-population. Although limited by a lack of geographical data on the source of these hog badgers, preventing the analysis of isolation by distance effects, hunting likely eroded hog badger population social structure, promoting gene flow among demes. We conclude that the exploitation of this wild source population seems unsustainable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The masked palm civet Paguma larvata (Carnivora: Viverridae) in Japan has been phylogeographically considered an introduced species from Taiwan. To reveal the population structures and relationships among the P. larvata populations in Japan, seven compound microsatellite loci were isolated from the genome and genotyped for 287 individuals collected from the field. STRUCTURE analysis and factorial correspondence analysis of genotyping data revealed that animals from Japan were divided into four genetic clusters. Geographic distribution of the genetic clusters partly referred to sampling areas, indicating multiple introductions into distinct areas of Japan or independent founding events leading to the generation of different genetic clusters within introduced populations in Japan. The large genetic differentiation of populations in the Shikoku District from those in other areas within Japan suggests that there were at least two introduction routes into Japan, and a possibility that some founders from areas other than Taiwan were also involved in the introduction into Japan. The genetic variation within Japanese populations were not markedly reduced compared with that of Taiwan. The results indicated that the Japanese populations of P. larvata could have retained moderate genetic diversity during founding events, because of multiple introductions, or a large number or high genetic diversity of founders. Although some individuals in Japan showed a sign of admixture between different clusters, there is no evidence that such an admixture markedly increased the genetic diversity within Japanese populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]