Heredity 82 (1999) 479±487
Received 23 January 1998, accepted 7 January 1999
Population structure and genetic variation
of European wild rabbits (Oryctolagus
cuniculus) in East Anglia
ALISON K. SURRIDGE*, DIANA J. BELL, KAMAL M. IBRAHIM
& GODFREY M. HEWITT
School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, U.K.
The European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is an introduced species in Britain, and populations
have been profoundly in¯uenced by both man and disease. In stable environmental conditions,
distinct social behaviour is observed, and this social structure leads to signi®cant genetic structuring at
the intrapopulation level. In this study, European wild rabbits were sampled from 17 sites across the
East Anglian region of Britain and genotyped with nine microsatellite loci. Genotypical proportions
deviated signi®cantly from Hardy±Weinberg equilibrium, re¯ecting a degree of population subdivision and non-random mating. Several estimates of measures of population genetic structure revealed
that populations are genetically distinct and have small eective population sizes. These distinctive
properties are seen to be the combined eects of the social structure and random drift acting on
bottlenecked populations after myxomatosis. It is concluded that the genetic structure seen in rabbit
populations today is unlikely to re¯ect historical structuring present before myxomatosis, but that it
results from recent events.
Keywords: eective population size, European wild rabbit, gene ¯ow, microsatellites, Oryctolagus
cuniculus, population bottleneck.
matosis is still thought to have a considerable impact on
population sizes.
Within the East Anglian region of Britain, the history
of the establishment and distribution of rabbit warrens
is well documented. Before the sixteenth century, rabbit
warrening was largely restricted to areas of light sandy
soil (Bailey, 1991). Many areas of forest and heavy soil
were inaccessible to rabbits until as late as the eighteenth
or nineteenth centuries when land use began to change,
and populations of wild rabbits became established.
The European wild rabbit is a burrowing animal that
has evolved coloniality, the bene®ts of which include
increased protection from predators, shelter and availability of nesting sites provided by the group warren,
along with desirable changes in the quality and quantity
of food produced by group foraging eects (Bell, 1983).
Within this system, small, stable breeding groups are
formed, and linear dominance hierarchies are observed
in both males and females, with dominant individuals
generally exhibiting higher reproductive success (Bell,
1983). Natal dispersal is sex biased; males disperse and
females tend to remain within their breeding group
(Webb et al., 1995). This social structuring within a
population of European wild rabbits is seen to result in
Introduction
The European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) originated in southern Spain and north Africa and now has
a widespread global distribution, primarily because of
the in¯uence of man. It was introduced into Britain in
the eleventh century by the Normans, who kept captive
populations of rabbits bred as a food and fur resource.
Wild populations were rare owing to lack of a suitable
habitat and an abundance of predators. In the eighteenth century, the growing of winter crops combined
with an increased interest in game resulted in food
resources becoming available and in the control of
predators. This meant that populations could survive
and increase in the wild (Sheail, 1971). Within 200 years,
populations had expanded over most of the UK. In
1952, the myxoma virus was introduced to France in an
attempt to control rapidly increasing populations and,
by 1953, the virus had spread to Britain where it caused
an initial mortality of up to 99.9%. Although rabbits
have developed some immunity to the disease, myxo-
*Correspondence. E-mail: a.surridge@uea.ac.uk
Ó 1999 The Genetical Society of Great Britain.
479
480
A. K. SURRIDGE ET AL.
higher relatedness among females within a social group
than among males (Surridge et al., 1999). An overall
reduction in gene ¯ow is observed, leading to genetic
structuring of the population, with breeding groups
constituting genetically isolated units.
The ®ne-scale genetic structuring resulting from
social behaviour may be expected to have a signi®cant
impact on the larger scale population structure of the
European wild rabbit. This study investigates the genetic
structure of rabbit populations in the East Anglian
region of Britain using nine polymorphic microsatellite
loci, with the aims of examining: (i) the wider scale
in¯uences of social behaviour; (ii) the historical eects of
founder events as populations expanded across the East
Anglian region; and (iii) the in¯uence of the myxomatosis bottleneck on population genetic structure. Populations from areas where rabbits were established initially
were sampled together with areas where rabbit populations would have become established around 700 years
later. The in¯uence of population bottlenecks and
founder eects was assessed by estimating genetic
diversity within these dierent populations.
Materials and methods
Sampling
Seventeen sites across East Anglia were sampled;
between 20 and 55 individual rabbits were collected
from each site. The approximate defended home territory of a rabbit is 0.25 ha; samples for this study were
collected from areas of up to several hundred hectares.
The distribution of sample sites across East Anglia is
given in Fig. 1. DNA was extracted from small pieces of
ear tissue taken from rabbits shot as part of routine
control procedures. Ear tissue was preserved in a highsalt tissue preservation buer.
Genetic analysis
DNA extraction was performed using standard techniques (overnight cell lysis using proteinase K, SDS and
EDTA; protein puri®cation using chloroform followed
by isopropanol precipitation) and polymerase chain
reaction (PCR) ampli®cation and genotyping of microsatellite loci performed as described previously for the
nine loci: sol03, sol08, sol30, sol33, sol44, sat5, sat7, sat8
and sat12 (Surridge et al., 1997).
Statistical analysis
First, we estimated the genetic diversity within the
populations sampled using the Shannon±Weaver diver-
Fig. 1 Distribution of sample sites of European wild rabbit
populations in East Anglia. Recent and ancient sites are
marked by closed and open circles, respectively.
sity index (Shannon & Weaver, 1964). This index
integrates two aspects of diversity, variant richness as
well as the frequency of each variant, i.e. the number of
alleles and their frequencies. ForP
an in®nite population,
diversity is estimated by H¢ ± pilnpi, where pi is the
frequency of variant i, in this case allele i. The bias in H¢
resulting from ®nite sample size is small and can be
ignored in most cases (Peet, 1974). H¢ is maximized
when each individual sampled carries unique alleles;
thus, maximum H¢ is given by lnn, where n is the total
number of alleles sampled. Relative diversity was
calculated as the ratio of H¢ to maximum H¢. These
diversity indices should reveal the eects of past
bottlenecks and/or the founding of populations from a
small number.
Secondly, we tested the genotypes at each locus for
each population for deviation from the expected Hardy±
Weinberg ratios using the software POPGENE (Yeh et al.,
1996), which performs both chi-squared and likelihood
ratio tests of statistical signi®cance. Rabbits show a high
degree of social structure and, therefore, it is unlikely
that the genotypical proportions in the sampled populations will conform to Hardy±Weinberg expectations.
However, assuming that any heterozygote de®cit found
is caused entirely by the eects of null alleles, it is
possible to calculate the frequency of these null alleles
from the expected (He) and observed (Ho) heterozygosity values. This can be given by:
r He ÿ Ho = He Ho Chakraborty et al:; 1992
1
Ó The Genetical Society of Great Britain, Heredity, 82, 479±487.
481
POPULATION STRUCTURE OF EUROPEAN WILD RABBITS
and r He ÿ Ho = 1 He Brookfield, 1996;
2
where r is the frequency of null alleles.
Thirdly, Wright's (1951) FST, FIT and FIS (based on
an in®nite allele model of mutation) were estimated in
the form of h, F and f, the sample-based, respective
estimators of these parameters proposed by Weir &
Cockerham (1984). These were computed using FSTAT
(Goudet, 1995). Because there is no general consensus
over which model of mutation is best applied to
microsatellite data (Di Rienzo et al., 1994), we also
obtained estimates of Slatkin's (1995) RST (based on a
stepwise mutation model) in the form of /ST values
calculated using AMOVA (Michalakis & Excoer, 1996).
Pairwise genetic distances (in the form of h) were plotted
against pairwise geographical distances in kilometres. A
Mantel test (Mantel, 1967) was used to test for a
signi®cant relationship.
Also estimated were Nm or gene ¯ow in the form of
number of migrants exchanged per generation, and Ne,
the eective population size. The relationship Nm (1/
4FST) ± 0.25 (Wright, 1951) was used to estimate the
number of migrants per generation from h, the estimator
of FST (where equilibrium conditions in terms of the
eective size of a population over generations and the
balance between drift and migration are assumed).
Slatkin's (1985) method of estimating Nm, based on the
distribution of rare or private alleles, was calculated (with
re®nements) in GENEPOP (Raymond & Rousset, 1995).
Similarly, where steady state, neutrality and an
in®nite allele model are assumed, Ewens (1972) has
derived the expectation of the mean number of dierent
alleles per locus in a sample as a function of the rate of
mutation l, sample size n and the eective population
size Ne. Thus, for a given sample size and observed
number of alleles, the value of 4Nel was obtained, and
Ne was calculated assuming a mutation rate of 10±3,
which lies between reported rates for microsatellites in
rodents and humans (Dallas, 1992; Weber & Wong,
1993). The formulae for Ne derived by Crow & Kimura
(1970) and Ohta & Kimura (1973) (where Ne is a
function of l and the observed heterozygosities for the
in®nite and single-step stepwise mutation models respectively) were used to obtain Ne values for comparative
purposes.
Results
Microsatellite loci
All the microsatellite loci showed polymorphism, having
between eight and 17 alleles and heterozygosities ranging from 0.24 to 0.72 (Table 1). The mean number of
alleles per locus ranged from 3.45 to 7.78 in the 17
Ó The Genetical Society of Great Britain, Heredity, 82, 479±487.
Table 1 Number of alleles, observed and expected heterozygosities for the nine microsatellite loci of European wild
rabbits
Locus
No. of alleles
Ho
He
r1
r2
sol03
sol08
sol30
sol33
sol44
sat5
sat7
sat8
sat12
17
11
15
16
15
17
16
8
9
0.627
0.573
0.619
0.581
0.241
0.523
0.471
0.326
0.718
0.891
0.818
0.821
0.855
0.729
0.694
0.827
0.404
0.748
0.174
0.176
0.140
0.191
0.503
0.141
0.274
0.107
0.020
0.140
0.135
0.111
0.148
0.282
0.101
0.195
0.056
0.017
Also given are frequencies of null alleles (r) expected under
departure from Hardy±Weinberg equilibrium using eqns (1) and
(2) in the text.
populations. Loci showing the greatest number of alleles
tended to be interrupted repeats, for example sol03 (17
alleles), sat5 (17 alleles), sol33 (16 alleles) and sol30 (15
alleles). However, there appeared to be no clear correlation between number of repeats and number of alleles
in our sample of microsatellite loci. Population-speci®c
allele frequencies for all loci are given in the Appendix.
Departures from Hardy±Weinberg equilibrium
The social structure of the European wild rabbit
prevents random mating. Re¯ecting this, all loci were
seen to deviate signi®cantly from Hardy±Weinberg
equilibrium using both chi-squared and likelihood ratio
tests (P < 0.001). Observed and expected heterozygosities are given in Table 1, together with the numbers of
alleles observed per locus. All loci except sat12 showed a
signi®cant heterozygote de®cit. Possible reasons for this
de®cit, apart from population subdivision and assortative mating, include selection against heterozygotes
and null alleles. Estimates of r for each locus are given
in Table 1 (r1 from eqn 1, r2 from eqn 2). These
frequencies are high for some loci, e.g. sol44 and sat7.
The frequency of blank genotypes in the data set
(possible null±null homozygote genotypes) ranged from
0.022 (for sat12) to 0.052 (for sat7).
Population differentiation and gene ¯ow
The estimators of population dierentiation based on
the in®nite alleles and stepwise mutation models showed
a high degree of population dierentiation (h 0.150,
P < 0.001; /ST 0.198, P < 0.001). Single-locus estimates of F, f, h and /ST are given in Table 2. All loci
show values of h and /ST signi®cantly greater than zero
(P < 0.005). Estimates of gene ¯ow, Nm, calculated
from h and /ST are 1.42 and 1.01 respectively. Using the
482
A. K. SURRIDGE ET AL.
Table 2 Single-locus estimates of F, f, h and /ST for the
nine microsatellite loci in European wild rabbits
Locus
F
f
h
/ST
sol03
sol08
sol30
sol33
sol44
sat5
sat7
sat8
sat12
All loci
0.303***
0.304***
0.252***
0.327***
0.684***
0.258***
0.436***
0.199***
0.047*
0.319***
0.199***
0.212***
0.157***
0.225***
0.507***
0.085***
0.348***
0.126***
)0.036
0.199***
0.130***
0.116***
0.113***
0.132***
0.359***
0.189***
0.135***
0.083***
0.080***
0.150***
0.198***
0.247***
0.169***
0.396***
0.314***
0.061***
0.424***
0.076**
0.171***
0.198***
*P < 0.05, **P < 0.005, ***P < 0.001.
private alleles method, a higher value of 2.82 individuals
per generation was obtained.
Plots of pairwise h against geographical distance
(Fig. 2) showed no apparent correlation between genetic
and geographical distance (Mantel test, P > 0.05).
Effective population size
For a value of l 10±3, we obtain estimates of eective
population size of 541 using Ewens' formula, where the
number of alleles per locus was averaged over loci and
over populations. The methods based on heterozygosity
values gave estimates of 253 and 380 for the in®nite
alleles and stepwise mutation models, respectively,
where heterozygosities were averaged over loci and over
populations.
Fig. 2 Plot of pairwise geographical distance (km) against
pairwise genetic distance (h) for the 17 populations of European
wild rabbit.
Diversity within populations
The Shannon±Weaver diversity index obtained for
populations ranged from 0.92 to 1.79. Relative diversity ranged from 0.082 to 0.136. Of the populations
sampled, 10 could be considered `ancient' populations,
i.e. rabbit populations were known from historical
records to be present in those areas before the sixteenth
century (M. Bailey, personal communication), and the
remaining seven were sampled from areas probably
colonized by rabbits from the eighteenth century
onwards, termed `recent' populations. As rabbits
spread out from existing populations into previously
unoccupied habitats in the eighteenth or nineteenth
centuries, we might expect to see a loss of genetic
diversity resulting from a small number of initial
founders. Mean diversity for recent populations 0.112 (range 0.082±0.125) and, for ancient
populations, mean diversity 0.114 (range 0.096±
0.136). There is no signi®cant dierence between these
two sets of values. These reveal that there is no
relationship between the site of the population (ancient
site or recent site) and the diversity found within the
population. Hence, the data show no evidence for
founder eects in populations occupying areas radiating out from sites supporting ancient populations.
Discussion
The European wild rabbit exhibits a high degree of nonrandom mating and social structuring, and a consequence of this is a high degree of genetic structuring
within a population (Surridge et al., 1999). When
dealing with sampled populations, therefore, it must
be considered that Hardy±Weinberg assumptions do not
apply, and that samples are being taken across genetically isolated breeding subunits. This is re¯ected in the
data presented here, a marked eect being a large
deviation from expected Hardy±Weinberg genotype
frequencies in the form of a heterozygote de®cit. Thus,
the combined eect of sampling across many breeding
subunits, within which individuals are known to mate
assortatively, is the major cause of the observed heterozygote de®cit (Surridge et al., 1999). Null alleles could
also be contributing to the de®cit observed, but the
frequency at which they occur remains uncertain.
A high degree of population dierentiation is observed between the 17 populations, indicating that the
populations are substantially isolated. Because of the
low levels of gene ¯ow, there appears to be no signi®cant
trend of isolation by distance. A wide spread of pairwise
genetic distances is observed, which cannot be correlated
with geographical distance.
Ó The Genetical Society of Great Britain, Heredity, 82, 479±487.
POPULATION STRUCTURE OF EUROPEAN WILD RABBITS
These data are in good agreement with the results of
previous studies on genetic structure of geographical
populations of European wild rabbits. Richardson
et al. (1980) found that there was signi®cant variation
in local populations of rabbits in New South Wales
using allozyme data, but this variation showed no clear
pattern and was attributed to drift because of small
eective population sizes. In contrast, rabbit populations in an arid region of Queensland show no genetic
dierentiation and high levels of gene ¯ow over
1600 km2. Moving into a semiarid ecosystem, populations become more structured (Fuller et al., 1997). This
dierence can be explained by dierences in ecology
and demography. It has been shown that the genetic
structure of eastern cottontail populations (Sylvilagus
¯oridanus) is not solely a result of social structure
(Scribner & Chesser, 1993). In fact, it is the in¯uence of
environmental parameters that determine the social
behaviour, which, in turn, in¯uences the genetic structure. Gene ¯ow between populations may be increased
in three ways: population expansion in favourable
conditions; successful dispersal into recently occupied
areas after a population crash (Daly 1979); and mass
emigration when resource shortage develops. So, we
may suggest that, in favourable, more stable conditions
such as those experienced in Britain, strict, stable social
organization develops, leading to reduced gene ¯ow
and small eective population sizes. If eective population size is small, this is expected to lead to changes
in the genetic structure of a population because of
random drift and, hence, distinct population dierentiation.
Estimates of eective population size corresponded
well with others obtained previously for the European
wild rabbit. From ecological studies, a ®gure of 120 has
been obtained (Daly, 1979) and, using an isolation by
distance calculation from distance moved between birth
and breeding, Richardson (1981) estimated an eective
population size of 170. Over non-arid regions of
Australia, eective population size has been calculated
at between 220 and 340 using coalescence theory
(Zenger, 1996), showing close agreement with our
estimates of 253±380 based on heterozygosity under an
in®nite alleles model and a stepwise mutation model.
However, caution must be applied when interpreting
estimates of eective population sizes obtained using
models that have certain assumptions, such as ®xed
population size and random mating, which are unrealistic in a species displaying pronounced social behaviour
such as the European wild rabbit.
Our data show no evidence for founder eects
reducing genetic variation within populations as rabbits
expanded into unoccupied habitats. A possible reason
Ó The Genetical Society of Great Britain, Heredity, 82, 479±487.
483
for this is the eects of the population bottleneck
experienced as rabbit populations were exposed to
myxomatosis later on in their history. The resulting
survivors in a population would have undergone loss or
®xation of dierent alleles because of drift, leading to
genetic dierentiation of geographically isolated populations and the obscuring of much genetic structure
induced by past events.
It is often assumed that, when a population goes
through a severe bottleneck, random genetic drift will
induce a massive loss of genetic variability. Despite the
extremely large mortality induced by myxomatosis,
much variation is still observed within rabbit populations, with average heterozygosity being 0.520. The
reduction in heterozygosity induced by a population
bottleneck depends not only on bottleneck size but also
on the rate of population growth after the bottleneck,
with rapid growth limiting the severe eects of drift to a
few generations. However, the loss of alleles is largely
dependent on bottleneck size only (Nei et al., 1975),
because the bottleneck tends to eliminate many lowfrequency alleles from the population. It is proposed
that the rabbit's short generation time, together with
high fecundity leading to a rapid population growth
rate, could account for the degree of heterozygosity
observed in present populations, despite the severity of
the bottleneck. On the other hand, despite the degree of
variation still observed in European wild rabbit populations, there can be no doubt that a disease such as
myxomatosis resulting in the death of 99.9% of a
population must have a signi®cant eect on the genetic
structure of that population.
To conclude, the present-day distribution and abundance of the European wild rabbit has been greatly
modi®ed by both man and disease. The genetic structure
of populations re¯ects the social structure of the rabbit
and is in¯uenced by genetic drift. Hence, any genetic
structuring present in European wild rabbit populations
before the myxomatosis outbreak, for example in¯uences of man, such as introductions or translocations, or
those induced by natural colonization of populations
into unoccupied habitats, is not evident in present
populations.
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank D. Bullock, N. Mackinnon, P. Scott,
K. Turner and The National Trust, Harvey's Game
Butcher, A. S. Kerslake, J. Farmer, J. Rudderham and
M. Wright. We also thank L. Excoer for the program
used to calculate Ewens' theta. This work was supported
by grants from the BBSRC (D. J. Bell and G. M.
Hewitt) and the Leverhulme Trust (K. M. Ibrahim).
484
A. K. SURRIDGE ET AL.
References
BAILEY, M.
1991. The rabbit and the Mediaeval East Anglian
economy. Agric. Hist. Rev., 36, 1±20.
BELL, D. J. 1983. Mate choice in the European rabbit. In:
Bateson, P. P. (ed.) Mate Choice, pp. 211±223. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge.
BROOKFIELD, J. F. Y. 1996. A. simple new method for estimating
null allele frequency from heterozygote de®ciency. Mol.
Ecol., 5, 453±455.
CHAKRABORTY, R., DE ANDRADE, M., DAIGER, S. P. AND
BUDOWLE, B. 1992. Apparent heterozygote de®ciencies
observed in DNA typing data and their implications in
forensic applications. Ann. Hum. Genet., 56, 45±57.
CROW, J. F. AND KIMURA, M. 1970. An Introduction to Population
Genetics Theory. Harper and Row, New York.
DALLAS, J. F. 1992. Estimation of microsatellite mutation rates in
recombinant strains of mouse. Mamm. Genome, 3, 452±456.
DALY, J. 1979. The Ecological Genetics of the European Wild
Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus (L.)) in Australia. Ph.D.
Thesis, Australian National University.
DI RIENZO, A., PETERSON, A. C., GARZA, J. C., VALDES, A. M.,
SLATKIN, M. AND FREIMER, N. B. 1994. Mutational processes
of simple-sequence repeat loci in human populations. Proc.
Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 91, 3166±3170.
EWENS, W. J. 1972. The sampling theory of selectively neutral
alleles. Theor. Pop. Biol., 3, 87±112.
FULLER, S. J., WILSON, J. C. AND MATHER, P. B. 1997. Patterns of
dierentiation among wild rabbit populations Oryctolagus
cuniculus L. in arid and semiarid ecosystems of north-eastern
Australia. Mol. Ecol., 6, 145±153.
GOUDET, J. 1995. FSTAT, version 1.2: a computer program to
calculate F-statistics. J. Hered., 86, 485±486.
MANTEL, N. 1967. The detection of disease clustering and a
generalised regression approach. Cancer Res., 27, 209±220.
MICHALAKIS, Y. AND EXCOFFIER, L. 1996. A generic estimation
of population subdivision using distances between alleles
with special reference for microsatellite loci. Genetics, 142,
1061±1064.
NEI, M., MARUYAMA, T. AND CHAKRABORTY, R. 1975. The
bottleneck eect and genetic variability in populations.
Evolution, 29, 1±10.
OHTA, T. AND KIMURA, M. 1973. A model of mutation
appropriate to estimate the number of electrophoretically
detectable alleles in a ®nite population. Genet. Res., 82, 201±
204.
PEET, R. K. 1974. The measurement of species diversity. Ann.
Rev. Ecol. Syst., 5, 285±307.
RAYMOND, M. AND ROUSSET, F. 1995. GENEPOP (version 1.2):
population genetics software for exact tests and ecumenicism. J. Hered., 86, 248±249.
RICHARDSON,
B. J. 1981. The genetic structure of rabbit
populations. In: Myers, K. and MacInnes, C. D. (eds)
Proceedings of the World Lagomorph Conference, pp. 37±52.
University of Guelph, Guelph.
RICHARDSON, B. J., ROGERS, P. M. AND HEWITT, G. M. 1980.
Ecological genetics of the wild rabbit in Australia. II.
Protein variation in British, French and Australian rabbits
and the geographical distribution of the variation in
Australia. Aust. J. Biol. Sci., 33, 371±383.
SCRIBNER, K. T. AND CHESSER, R. K. 1993. Environmental and
demographic correlates of spatial and seasonal genetic
structure in the eastern cottontail (Sylvilagus ¯oridanus).
J. Mammal., 74, 1026±1044.
SHANNON, C. E. AND WEAVER, W. 1964. The Mathematical
Theory of Communication. University of Illinois Press,
Urbana.
SHEAIL, J. 1971. Rabbits and their History. David and Charles,
Newton Abbott.
SLATKIN, M. 1985. Rare alleles as indicators of gene ¯ow.
Evolution, 39, 53±65.
SLATKIN, M. 1995. A measure of population subdivision
based on microsatellite allele frequencies. Genetics, 139,
457±462.
SURRIDGE, A. K., BELL, D. J., RICO, C. AND HEWITT, G. M. 1997.
Polymorphic microsatellite loci in the European wild rabbit
(Oryctolagus cuniculus) are also ampli®ed in other lagomorph species. Anim. Genet., 28, 302±305.
SURRIDGE, A. K., IBRAHIM, K. M., BELL, D. J., WEBB, N. J., RICO, C.
and HEWITT, G. M. 1999. Fine-scale genetic structuring in a
natural population of European wild rabbits (Oryctolagus
cuniculus). Mol. Ecol., 8, 299±307.
WEBB, N. J., IBRAHIM, K., BELL, D. J. AND HEWITT, G. M. 1995.
Natal dispersal and genetic structure in a population of the
European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Mol. Ecol., 4,
239±247.
WEBER, J. L. AND WONG, C. 1993. Mutation of human short
tandem repeats. Hum. Mol. Genet., 2, 1123±1128.
WEIR, B. S. AND COCKERHAM, C. C. 1984. Estimating F-statistics
for the analysis of population structure. Evolution, 38, 1358±
1370.
WRIGHT, S. 1951. The genetical structure of populations. Ann.
Eugen., 15, 323±354.
YEH, F. C., RONGCAI, Y., MAO, J., ZHIHONG, Y. AND BOYLE, T. J. B.
1996. POPGENE, the Microsoft Windows-based user-friendly
software for population genetics analysis of co-dominant and
dominant markers and quantitative traits. Department of
Natural Resources, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada.
ZENGER, K. 1996. The Genetic Variation and Evolution of the
Mitochondrial DNA Non-Coding Region in Australian Wild
Rabbit Populations (Oryctolagus cuniculus (L.)). M.Sc.
Thesis, University of Western Sydney.
Ó The Genetical Society of Great Britain, Heredity, 82, 479±487.
POPULATION STRUCTURE OF EUROPEAN WILD RABBITS
485
Appendix
Allele frequencies at nine microsatellite loci for the 17 European wild rabbit populations
Population
Allele
Locus (bp)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
sol30
137
143
145
147
149
151
153
155
157
159
161
163
165
169
171
0.000
0.000
0.474
0.205
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.051
0.000
0.244
0.000
0.026
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.015
0.324
0.294
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.044
0.029
0.162
0.059
0.074
0.000
0.000
0.028
0.222
0.194
0.037
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.028
0.157
0.000
0.333
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.051
0.296
0.082
0.031
0.010
0.000
0.082
0.031
0.092
0.276
0.041
0.000
0.010
0.000
0.000
0.052
0.034
0.397
0.017
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.034
0.103
0.069
0.293
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.167
0.222
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.222
0.389
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.014
0.176
0.284
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.014
0.068
0.054
0.392
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.081
0.468
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.016
0.048
0.387
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.304
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.500
0.022
0.152
0.022
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.017
0.200
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.083
0.000
0.650
0.017
0.033
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.232
0.268
0.036
0.000
0.000
0.018
0.161
0.018
0.268
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.184
0.342
0.026
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.158
0.000
0.289
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.045
0.227
0.091
0.023
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.068
0.000
0.545
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.381
0.190
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.024
0.000
0.000
0.405
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.238
0.262
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.071
0.095
0.000
0.333
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.090
0.205
0.385
0.013
0.026
0.000
0.013
0.064
0.000
0.192
0.000
0.000
0.013
0.000
0.112
0.375
0.087
0.013
0.000
0.013
0.013
0.050
0.213
0.050
0.075
0.000
0.000
0.000
sol03
218
219
221
223
225
227
229
231
233
235
237
239
241
243
245
247
257
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.053
0.039
0.289
0.184
0.039
0.000
0.000
0.013
0.053
0.026
0.211
0.013
0.079
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.063
0.016
0.125
0.266
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.031
0.078
0.094
0.156
0.047
0.125
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.067
0.240
0.096
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.010
0.029
0.154
0.106
0.288
0.000
0.010
0.009
0.000
0.009
0.019
0.142
0.321
0.047
0.009
0.000
0.000
0.094
0.000
0.292
0.047
0.000
0.009
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.328
0.086
0.017
0.017
0.000
0.017
0.052
0.086
0.379
0.000
0.017
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.278
0.111
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.611
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.013
0.063
0.250
0.125
0.025
0.013
0.000
0.050
0.112
0.125
0.225
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.161
0.065
0.468
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.016
0.000
0.242
0.000
0.032
0.000
0.016
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.022
0.348
0.000
0.000
0.022
0.022
0.000
0.413
0.087
0.043
0.000
0.043
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.067
0.000
0.017
0.133
0.000
0.017
0.117
0.000
0.067
0.000
0.517
0.017
0.050
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.196
0.321
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.161
0.143
0.179
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.025
0.175
0.000
0.075
0.275
0.000
0.100
0.075
0.000
0.050
0.025
0.150
0.000
0.050
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.024
0.024
0.214
0.143
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.024
0.024
0.048
0.286
0.190
0.024
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.250
0.250
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.050
0.000
0.000
0.425
0.025
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.237
0.184
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.079
0.079
0.053
0.316
0.053
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.363
0.438
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.025
0.025
0.150
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.013
0.200
0.237
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.038
0.000
0.213
0.188
0.112
0.000
0.000
sol44
178
192
194
196
198
200
202
204
206
208
210
212
218
220
222
0.013
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.013
0.013
0.090
0.051
0.231
0.590
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.088
0.912
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.009
0.009
0.660
0.217
0.104
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.010
0.000
0.694
0.296
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.034
0.966
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.056
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.222
0.722
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.141
0.013
0.218
0.000
0.192
0.051
0.359
0.026
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.226
0.081
0.677
0.016
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.083
0.063
0.792
0.042
0.021
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.150
0.033
0.550
0.267
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.019
0.074
0.204
0.185
0.426
0.093
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.175
0.750
0.000
0.075
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.432
0.545
0.023
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.045
0.068
0.523
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.364
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.026
0.105
0.237
0.368
0.053
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.211
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.013
0.782
0.179
0.000
0.013
0.000
0.000
0.013
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.053
0.816
0.079
0.039
0.000
0.000
0.013
0.000
0.000
Ó The Genetical Society of Great Britain, Heredity, 82, 479±487.
486
A. K. SURRIDGE ET AL.
Appendix (contd.)
Population
Allele
Locus (bp)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
sol08
104
106
108
110
112
114
116
118
120
122
124
0.000
0.026
0.679
0.000
0.013
0.064
0.192
0.000
0.013
0.013
0.000
0.103
0.074
0.426
0.015
0.000
0.250
0.029
0.000
0.103
0.000
0.000
0.010
0.082
0.337
0.010
0.031
0.051
0.276
0.061
0.061
0.082
0.000
0.000
0.019
0.173
0.019
0.048
0.087
0.269
0.048
0.308
0.029
0.000
0.036
0.250
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.357
0.357
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.389
0.056
0.000
0.000
0.333
0.222
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.066
0.118
0.487
0.000
0.158
0.026
0.132
0.013
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.113
0.065
0.452
0.081
0.177
0.016
0.065
0.032
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.023
0.273
0.341
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.364
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.017
0.000
0.250
0.000
0.033
0.000
0.300
0.067
0.333
0.000
0.000
0.308
0.308
0.269
0.077
0.019
0.019
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.026
0.553
0.132
0.158
0.000
0.105
0.000
0.026
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.190
0.357
0.119
0.167
0.095
0.071
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.425
0.000
0.275
0.000
0.075
0.000
0.200
0.000
0.025
0.025
0.250
0.425
0.025
0.025
0.000
0.025
0.000
0.225
0.000
0.000
0.015
0.088
0.265
0.000
0.029
0.000
0.191
0.059
0.353
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.237
0.434
0.026
0.039
0.026
0.092
0.013
0.026
0.105
0.000
sol33
189
191
193
195
197
199
201
203
205
207
209
211
213
215
217
219
0.013
0.013
0.079
0.329
0.184
0.000
0.092
0.039
0.000
0.026
0.184
0.039
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.015
0.176
0.250
0.088
0.074
0.000
0.059
0.338
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.010
0.029
0.356
0.087
0.327
0.067
0.000
0.096
0.029
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.167
0.315
0.167
0.278
0.000
0.009
0.037
0.028
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.172
0.603
0.052
0.086
0.000
0.086
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.667
0.111
0.111
0.111
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.051
0.090
0.000
0.423
0.000
0.013
0.423
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.233
0.017
0.283
0.117
0.017
0.317
0.017
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.042
0.333
0.104
0.271
0.000
0.000
0.250
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.367
0.167
0.217
0.017
0.067
0.167
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.143
0.214
0.018
0.446
0.125
0.018
0.036
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.289
0.079
0.316
0.053
0.026
0.237
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.091
0.136
0.091
0.068
0.205
0.068
0.136
0.182
0.023
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.025
0.025
0.050
0.250
0.000
0.425
0.000
0.025
0.200
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.025
0.025
0.025
0.075
0.250
0.050
0.125
0.050
0.000
0.375
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.128
0.205
0.038
0.436
0.038
0.038
0.103
0.013
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.013
0.276
0.039
0.276
0.026
0.013
0.355
0.000
sat12
114
118
122
126
130
134
138
142
146
0.000
0.064
0.103
0.628
0.090
0.103
0.013
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.147
0.441
0.324
0.074
0.015
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.028
0.085
0.236
0.321
0.113
0.038
0.160
0.019
0.010
0.058
0.144
0.385
0.067
0.308
0.029
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.052
0.069
0.362
0.103
0.379
0.034
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.222
0.444
0.056
0.278
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.013
0.329
0.434
0.184
0.013
0.026
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.086
0.276
0.379
0.207
0.052
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.043
0.065
0.217
0.283
0.130
0.261
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.017
0.310
0.500
0.138
0.017
0.017
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.018
0.321
0.518
0.071
0.071
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.225
0.425
0.125
0.225
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.273
0.477
0.091
0.159
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.190
0.476
0.143
0.190
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.214
0.429
0.143
0.167
0.024
0.024
0.000
0.000
0.013
0.487
0.269
0.128
0.077
0.026
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.051
0.603
0.282
0.051
0.000
0.013
0.000
0.000
sat5
195
199
201
203
205
207
209
211
221
223
225
227
229
231
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.750
0.000
0.053
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.197
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.632
0.000
0.088
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.015
0.265
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.010
0.000
0.462
0.010
0.365
0.038
0.000
0.000
0.019
0.096
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.087
0.000
0.365
0.067
0.212
0.125
0.000
0.000
0.058
0.048
0.038
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.569
0.000
0.362
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.052
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.889
0.000
0.056
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.056
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.014
0.878
0.014
0.014
0.027
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.014
0.027
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.017
0.567
0.000
0.200
0.033
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.017
0.167
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.500
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.478
0.022
0.000
0.000
0.150
0.150
0.267
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.033
0.217
0.183
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.296
0.278
0.037
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.241
0.111
0.037
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.100
0.525
0.025
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.025
0.200
0.125
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.023
0.818
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.045
0.114
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.841
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.023
0.136
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.024
0.000
0.738
0.000
0.024
0.000
0.000
0.095
0.024
0.095
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.125
0.125
0.050
0.300
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.038
0.162
0.188
0.000
0.039
0.013
0.066
0.000
0.711
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.053
0.026
0.092
Ó The Genetical Society of Great Britain, Heredity, 82, 479±487.
POPULATION STRUCTURE OF EUROPEAN WILD RABBITS
487
Appendix (contd.)
Population
Allele
Locus (bp)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
233
237
239
0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.014 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.013 0.000
0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.017 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
sat7
177
179
181
183
185
187
189
191
193
195
197
201
203
205
209
211
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.392
0.297
0.108
0.135
0.027
0.041
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.394
0.242
0.000
0.076
0.227
0.000
0.061
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.040
0.050
0.150
0.400
0.020
0.030
0.080
0.200
0.020
0.010
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.009
0.019
0.083
0.380
0.093
0.046
0.130
0.194
0.019
0.028
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.500
0.086
0.000
0.190
0.138
0.000
0.086
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.056
0.222
0.000
0.000
0.722
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.026
0.000
0.487
0.026
0.026
0.064
0.372
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.371
0.065
0.016
0.161
0.323
0.065
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.370
0.043
0.022
0.457
0.087
0.022
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.017
0.317
0.067
0.067
0.450
0.033
0.050
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.037
0.000
0.000
0.037
0.444
0.037
0.000
0.056
0.000
0.370
0.000
0.019
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.342
0.105
0.000
0.105
0.000
0.421
0.026
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.024
0.000
0.095
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.405
0.024
0.071
0.071
0.024
0.262
0.024
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.265
0.147
0.000
0.324
0.206
0.000
0.059
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.026
0.368
0.079
0.026
0.289
0.132
0.079
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.078
0.000
0.000
0.031
0.281
0.063
0.000
0.063
0.344
0.016
0.125
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.014
0.000
0.000
0.257
0.029
0.100
0.557
0.043
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
sat8
134
136
138
140
154
156
158
182
0.256
0.000
0.705
0.000
0.013
0.013
0.013
0.000
0.206
0.000
0.721
0.000
0.029
0.015
0.000
0.029
0.148
0.019
0.833
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.093
0.185
0.694
0.028
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.224
0.000
0.776
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.222
0.000
0.722
0.000
0.056
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.218
0.013
0.744
0.000
0.026
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.446
0.000
0.536
0.000
0.018
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
1.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.018
0.000
0.946
0.018
0.018
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.054
0.000
0.661
0.000
0.286
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.105
0.000
0.895
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.952
0.000
0.048
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.024
0.024
0.952
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.125
0.063
0.813
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.200
0.050
0.613
0.000
0.138
0.000
0.000
0.000
0.250
0.056
0.556
0.000
0.139
0.000
0.000
0.000
Ó The Genetical Society of Great Britain, Heredity, 82, 479±487.