Citizens help identify four genetic units of polecats in the Iberian Peninsula

Candida albicans filamenta to avoid being eliminated by the immune system. / Shutterstok

Related to ferrets, polecats are one of the most unknown mammals in the European fauna. The results collected between 2004 and 2022, for which citizen science tools have been applied, suggest that the population of Gerona is isolated from the rest of the genetic units.

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A research group led by the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), supported by a citizen science project, has explored the structure and diversity of the European polecat (mustela putorius) of the Iberian Peninsula and has identified four genetic units: South-Central, North-Central, Basque Country and Gerona. It is the first work that explores the genetic structure of the polecat in our peninsula, a small carnivore from the mustelid family and one of the most unknown mammals in the European fauna.

To do this, microsatellite markers were used, which are small pieces of DNA with high variability that are distributed throughout the genome, and that provide genetic information so useful that it is even used in paternity tests. With them, a high genetic flow was observed between all the units except for that of Gerona, which is isolated and has little variability. This shows that mountain ranges are not impenetrable barriers to the gene flow of the species.

"The results suggest that the Gerona population is isolated from the rest of the genetic units analyzed, so it should have its own conservation plan to avoid further deterioration of its genetic pool," says Rafael Barrientos, researcher at the Department of Biodiversity. Ecology and Evolution of the UCM.

To carry out the study, published in The Journal of Wildlife Management, samples of hair, ear or muscle from 238 specimens run over in the Iberian Peninsula between 2004 and 2022 have been analyzed.

40% of the samples analyzed by scientists were collected thanks to the collaboration of citizens, who were reached through the social network Facebook. Once the specimen was found, the volunteers had two options: take the sample themselves (normally hair or skin) and send it by mail; or, if not, provide the researchers with the location (road and km) so that they could collect it.

“Citizen help has helped us cover a larger sampling area, reach other provinces and collect more samples than we would have collected on our own,” highlights Barrientos.

In addition to the UCM, the Rey Juan Carlos University, the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC) and the University of Aveiro participate in the work.

The URJC scientific team participated in the design of the study from the beginning and in the preparation of the samples of all the specimens collected on roads in the laboratories of the Rey Juan Carlos University, together with Guillermo Carmona (UCM), co-author of the work. . "The large number of road-killed polecats that we found in a few localities in the provinces of Toledo and Madrid in less than a year is especially striking. This situation should raise the alarm to carry out a more precise monitoring of this species because the roads can represent a conservation problem in the near future," says Tamara Burgos, co-author of the study and honorary researcher at the URJC.