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This article documents the addition of 411 microsatellite marker loci and 15 pairs of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) sequencing primers to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Acanthopagrus schlegeli, Anopheles lesteri, Aspergillus clavatus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus terreus, Branchiostoma japonicum, Branchiostoma belcheri, Colias behrii, Coryphopterus personatus, Cynogolssus semilaevis, Cynoglossus semilaevis, Dendrobium officinale, Dendrobium officinale, Dysoxylum malabaricum, Metrioptera roeselii, Myrmeciza exsul, Ochotona thibetana, Neosartorya fischeri, Nothofagus pumilio, Onychodactylus fischeri, Phoenicopterus roseus, Salvia officinalis L., Scylla paramamosain, Silene latifo, Sula sula, and Vulpes vulpes. These loci were cross-tested on the following species: Aspergillus giganteus, Colias pelidne, Colias interior, Colias meadii, Colias eurytheme, Coryphopterus lipernes, Coryphopterus glaucofrenum, Coryphopterus eidolon, Gnatholepis thompsoni, Elacatinus evelynae, Dendrobium loddigesii Dendrobium devonianum, Dysoxylum binectariferum, Nothofagus antarctica, Nothofagus dombeyii, Nothofagus nervosa, Nothofagus obliqua, Sula nebouxii, and Sula variegata. This article also documents the addition of 39 sequencing primer pairs and 15 allele specific primers or probes for Paralithodes camtschaticus.

The common shrew, Sorex araneus, exhibits an unusually high level of karyotypic variation. Populations with identical or similar karyotypes are defined as chromosome races, which are, in turn, grouped into larger evolutionary units, karyotypic groups. Using six microsatellite markers, we investigated the genetic structure of a hybrid zone between the Sidensjo and Abisko chromosome races, representatives of two distinct karyotypic groups believed to have been separated during the last glacial maximum, the West European karyotypic group (western group) and the North European karyotypic group (northern group), respectively. Significant FST values among populations suggest some weak genetic structure. All hierarchical levels show similar levels of genetic differentiation, equivalent to levels of genetic structure in several intraracial studies of common shrew populations from central Europe. Notably, genetic differentiation was of the same order of magnitude between and within karyotypic groups. Although the genetic differentiation was weak, the correlation between genetic and geographical distance was positive and significant, suggesting that the genetic variation observed between populations is a function of geographical distance rather than racial origin. Hence, considerable chromosomal differences do not seem to prevent extensive gene flow.

Introduced species may hybridise with relatives in the native Fauna or flora and thereby compete for matings and transmit alien DNA. Such interference may contaminate unique genepools, disturb existing ecological balances and may ultimately result in the

This paper describes our recent extraction of ancient DNA (aDNA) from Holocene pollen and discusses the potential of the technique for elucidating timescales of evolutionary change. We show that plastid DNA is recoverable and usable from pollen grains of Scots pine Pinus sylvestris from 10 ka and 100 years ago. Comparison of the ancient sequences with modern sequences, obtained from an extant population, establish a first genetic link between modern and fossil samples of Scots pine, providing a genetic continuity through time. One common haplotype is present in each of the three periods investigated, suggesting that it persisted near the lake throughout the postglacial. The retrieval of aDNA from pollen has major implications for palaeoecology by allowing (i) investigation of population-level dynamics in time and space, and (ii) tracing ancestry of populations and developing phylogenetic trees that include extinct as well as extant taxa. The method should work over the last glacial oscillation, thus giving access to ancestry of populations over a crucial period of time for the understanding of the relationship between speciation and climate change.

Unusually high levels of genetic differentiation are often observed between populations of Daphnia (Crustacea: Cladocera) and other cladocerans. Selection and departure from migration-mutation-drift equilibrium have been invoked to explain this fact. Howe

Identity measures are derived for the infinite island model with separate sexes and sex-differentiated contribution to gene flow. The concept of effective migration rate, m(e), is introduced, which describes the genetically effective flow when sexes migra

1. The switch between asexual and sexual reproduction is an important fitness component in cyclically parthenogenetic populations as it is the key to persistence in unstable habitats and because it influences population genetic characteristics such as lin

The sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) reaches the northern periphery of its distribution in south-central Sweden, where small, isolated relict populations occur in pine heath forests on sandy sediments. Modern forestry and fire suppression have reduced the amount of suitable open habitat for the species in this area and seem to be important for its decline. Main objectives of this thesis were to evaluate the efficiency of different management strategies, and if the sand lizard can function as an umbrella species for biodiversity conservation.

Over a 16-year period, the estimated annual numbers of adult females in each of two study populations fluctuated between 23 and 3. Simulations of stochastic future population growth showed that the risk of extinction was highly dependent on population growth rate, which in turn was strongly affected by juvenile survival as indicated by elasticity analysis.

Simulations of population growth for 50 years showed that the quasi-extinction risk (threshold ≤ 10 females) was > 56% for patches ≤ 1 ha; which is the observed average size of suitable habitat for inhabited patches during a 10-year period. In managed metapopulation networks with highly co-fluctuating local populations, among-population dispersal was not important to reduce extinction risks over a 50-year horizon.

In the field the preferred microhabitat of sand lizards was successfully restored using tree felling and patch-soil scarification. The lizards gradually colonized the restored patches, and 16 years after restoration, sand lizards where mainly found there.

Pine-heath area, and patch area within individual pine heaths, were of major importance for long-term population persistence at regional and landscape scales, respectively. Analyses of nested species subsets and an umbrella index suggest that the sand lizard can be a useful cross-taxonomic umbrella species on both scales for other red-listed species.