Anetta Borkowska

• University of Białystok

Background: Wild animals often suffer from infections with multiple species of parasites simultaneously. The exchange of parasites between different host species is common in nature and often involves intermediate hosts or sharing space such as pastures or watering holes. Supplementary feeding, leading to large aggregations of individuals, can have...

It is important to assess the distribution of parasite species across wildlife populations, to design strategies for game management and effective disease control in nature. In this project we quantified the prevalence of Elaphostrongylus species in eight moose populations. We used molecular methods for identification of parasite species and host i...

Simultaneous infection with multiple parasite species in an individual host is often observed in wild populations. The understanding of parasite species distribution across populations of wild animals is of basic and applied importance, because parasites can have pronounced effects on the dynamics of host population. Here, we quantified prevalence...

Simple Summary The disappearance of many butterfly species is currently observed in Europe, as most of them display strict habitat preferences and/or food specializations. A good example of such a species is the chequered blue butterfly (Scolitantides orion), whose caterpillars feed only on a few species of sedum and are guarded by ants. In Poland,...

The study analyses patterns of endoparasite eggs, oocysts and larvae shedding by moose from the relict population in the Biebrza marshland, NE Poland, which has grown to be one of the largest in Central Europe since the ban on hunting imposed in 2001. The analysis identified 10 species or groups of parasites among 230 faecal moose samples collected...

Mitogenomes are valuable data sources for phylogeographic and evolutionary studies of relatively closely related organisms. Here we describe eight complete sequences of moose mitogenomes belonging to the three clades of the European lineage and compare them with those of the Asian lineage. Mitochondrial genomes of moose and other cervids were used...

Wildlife translocations increase the rate of introgressive hybridization between closely related species. In this study, we investigated the population genetic structure of the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)in Poland, affected by widespread ancient mtDNA introgression from Siberian roe deer (C. pygargus), for signs of recent human-mediated...

The trajectories of postglacial range expansions, the occurrence of lineage patches and the formation and maintenance of secondary contact between lineages may mostly reflect neutral demographic processes, including density blocking, that may leave long-lasting genetic signatures. However, a few studies have recently shown that climate may also pla...

Introgressive hybridization offers a unique platform for studying the molecular basis of natural selection acting on mitogenomes. Most of the mtDNA protein-coding genes are extremely conserved; however, some of the observed variations have potentially adaptive significance. Here, we evaluated whether the evolution of mtDNA in closely related roe de...

Introgressive hybridization is a widespread evolutionary phenomenon which may lead to increased allelic variation at selective-neutral loci and to transfer of fitness-related traits to introgressed lineages. We inferred the population genetic structure of the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in Poland from mitochondrial (CR and cyt b) and se...

In recently deglaciated areas, studies of mtDNA haplotype diversity have often revealed clear phylogeographic structure for many animal species. Here, we assessed mitochondrial DNA variation of the moose, Alces alces, in northeastern Poland. Altogether, four haplotypes were found among 45 moose and the haplotype (h) and nucleotide (π) diversity est...

Variation of reproductive success, an important determinant of the opportunity for sexual selection, is an outcome of competition within one sex for mating with members of the other sex. In promiscuous species, males typically compete for access to females, and their reproductive strategies are strongly related to the spatial distribution of female...

In promiscuous species in which females mate with more than one male during oestrus, males may increase their sperm expenditure or change their copulatory behaviour in response to the risk of sperm competition. I used an experimental approach to investigate the pattern of copulatory behaviour of the bank voleMyodes glareolus Schreber, 1780 dependin...

We present a microgeographic analysis of 34 allozyme loci and the control region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in the common voleMicrotus arvalis (Pallas, 1779), performed to assess the effects of environmental heterogeneity on the distribution of genetic variation among populations in the Biebrza river valley, NE Poland. The common vole occurs ther...

Using a root vole Microtus oeconomus (Pallas, 1776) population in NE Poland we applied 31 microsatellite markers previously developed for root voles and closely related species, with the aim to improve the population genetic tools in this species. Here we present 16 polymorphic microsatellite markers grouped into four sets suitable for simultaneous...

Behavioural ecologists have long been interested in mating systems and variance of reproductive success. Highly variable molecular markers now enable researchers to reassess mating systems from the genetic point of view. We used 10 microsatellite loci to detail the mating pattern and male reproductive success in a natural population of the common v...

We used 10 microsatellite loci to determine the mating system and male reproductive success in a natural population of the root vole (Microtus oeconomus). By genotyping 21 females and their 111 offspring (5.28+/-0.27 S.E. pups per female), we found evidence for multiple paternity in 38% of the litters sired by two or three males. Paternity was not...

The sex-related spatial genetic structure of a free-living population of the common vole (Microtus arvalis) was assessed using sequence and haplotype frequency data of the complete mitochondrial cytb gene in three seasons. Six haplotypes were resolved, three of them (A, B and C) were shared among seasons and sexes. The remaining three singletons di...

We developed nine polymorphic microsatellite loci for the field vole, Microtus agrestis. The number of alleles ranged from five to 15 and observed heterozygosities ranged from 0.40 to 1.00. We also tested the microsatellite loci for amplification and polymorphism in the congeneric species Microtus arvalis. Five of the nine loci were successfully an...

One of the major challenges in population biology is the identification of barriers to gene flow and/or secondary contacts between differentiated entities. The level of genetic differentiation among eight populations of the common voleMicrotus arvalis (Pallas, 1779) around the Biebrza Wetlands, NE Poland was examined by analyzing seven microsatelli...

The genetic consequences of age structure were investigated in five populations of the bank vole, Clethrionomys glareolus, using 18 variable allozyme loci. Temporal sam- ples and age cohorts were analysed to detect seasonal differences in population genetic structure and relatedness between individuals. Changes in allele frequencies between seasons...

The frequency of multiple paternity was estimated in the natural populations of Clethrionomys glareolus in northeastern Poland, using enzyme electrophoresis. The percentage of multiply sired litters, those detected and undetected was 35.5%. A laboratory experiment showed that 30 out of 44 bank vole females mated with two males during one copulatory...

The relationship between genetic and morphological variation was studied in five populations of the bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) from NE Poland. For the assessment of genetic polymorphism 37 enzyme loci were investigated. The proportion of polymorphic loci (P) ranged from 0.162 to 0.270 and the average observed heterozygosity (H0) from 0.074...