title: Phylogeography and genetic structure of the red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa): more evidence for refugia within the Iberian glacial refugium.
abstract: The Pleistocene climatic oscillations promoted the diversification in avian species during the last glacial period. The red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa, Family Phasianidae) has a large natural distribution extending from the Mediterranean to humid temperate zones. However, the genetic structure for this species is unknown. The present study investigates the phylogeography, genetic structure and demographic history of A. rufa across its distribution, employing both mitochondrial DNA control region sequences and nuclear microsatellite loci. Our results propose that this species was greatly affected by Pleistocene glaciations. The mismatch analyses suggest that the current populations resulted from post-glacial expansion and subsequent differentiation resulting in five diagnosable genetic clusters: Southwestern, Central-eastern, Northwestern, Balearic and French and Italian. Further, we found evidence of three glacial refugia within the currently recognized Iberian glacial refugium. The intraspecific structure revealed by both maternal and biparental phylogeographic analyses was not resolved in the phylogenetic analyses. Based on all considerations, we recommended that five management units be recognized.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, IREC (CSIC, UCLM, JCCM), Ronda de Toledo s/n, 13005-Ciudad Real, Spain.
authors.forename: M Ester
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Ferrero
authors.forename: Jose A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Blanco-Aguiar
authors.forename: Stephen C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Lougheed
authors.forename: Inés
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Barbudo
authors.forename: Pedro J G
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: De Nova
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Villafuerte
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Dávila
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D003710:Demography; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005602:France; D046094:Galliformes / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D040342:Genetic Structures; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006239:Haplotypes; D046448:Ice Cover; D007558:Italy; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D058974:Phylogeography; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011174:Portugal; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial