We identified 14 emerging and poorly understood threats and opportunities for addressing the global conservation of freshwater mussels over the next decade. A panel of 17 researchers and stakeholders from six continents submitted a total of 56 topics that were ranked and prioritized using a consensus-building Delphi technique. Our 14 priority topics fell into five broad themes (autecology, population dynamics, global stressors, global diversity, and ecosystem services) and included understanding diets throughout mussel life history; identifying the drivers of population declines; defining metrics for quantifying mussel health; assessing the role of predators, parasites, and disease; informed guidance on the risks and opportunities for captive breeding and translocations; the loss of mussel-fish co-evolutionary relationships; assessing the effects of increasing surface water changes; understanding the effects of sand and aggregate mining; understanding the effects of drug pollution and other emerging contaminants such as nanomaterials; appreciating the threats and opportunities arising from river restoration; conserving understudied hotspots by building local capacity through the principles of decolonization; identifying appropriate taxonomic units for conservation; improved quantification of the ecosystem services provided by mussels; and understanding how many mussels are enough to provide these services. Solutions for addressing the topics ranged from ecological studies to technological advances and socio-political engagement. Prioritization of our topics can help to drive a proactive approach to the conservation of this declining group which provides a multitude of important ecosystem services.

• Klíčová slova
• conservation, diversity, ecosystem services, freshwater mussel, horizon scan, mussel health, threats, unionid,
• MeSH
• ekosystém * MeSH
• mlži * MeSH
• řeky MeSH
• sladká voda MeSH
• zachování přírodních zdrojů MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• přehledy MeSH

Hedgehogs are among the most abundant species to be found within wildlife shelters and after successful rehabilitation they are frequently translocated. The effects and potential impact of these translocations on gene flow within wild populations are largely unknown. In this study, different wild hedgehog populations were compared with artificially created "shelter populations", with regard to their genetic diversity, in order to establish basic data for future inferences on the genetic impact of hedgehog translocations. Observed populations are located within central Europe, including the species Erinaceus europaeus and E. roumanicus. Shelters were mainly hosting one species; in one case, both species were present syntopically. Apart from one exception, the results did not show a higher genetic diversity within shelter populations, indicating that individuals did not originate from a wider geographical area than individuals grouped into one of the wild populations. Two shelters from Innsbruck hosted individuals that belonged to two potential clusters, as indicated in a distance analysis. When such a structure stems from the effects of landscape elements like large rivers, the shelter management-related translocations might lead to homogenization across the dispersal barrier.

• Klíčová slova
• animal shelter, genotyping by amplicon sequencing, hedgehog, translocation,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Hatchery-reared sterlet originating from the Danube and Volga river basins that showed population-discriminatory alleles on at least one microsatellite locus were used to produce purebred (within-population) and hybrid crosses to evaluate intraspecific hybridization with respect to the genetic polymorphism and physiological fitness of fish for commercial aquaculture and, conservation programs. Reciprocal crossing assessed the effect of parent position. The fish were reared in indoor and outdoor tanks and monitored over 504 days for growth traits. The highest final mean body weight (144.9 ± 59.5 g) was recorded in the Danube (♀) × Volga (♂) hybrid and the highest survival in the Volga (♀) × Danube (♂) hybrid. The Volga purebred exhibited the lowest mean body weight (124.8 ± 57.6 g). A set of six microsatellites was used to evaluate the heterozygosity. The mean number of alleles was highest in the Danube (♀) × Volga (♂) hybrid and lowest in the Volga purebred, suggesting an influence of the parent position in the hybridization matrix. The higher level of genetic polymorphism, as in the Danube (♀) × Volga (♂) hybrid, may confer greater fitness in a novel environment. Our analysis revealed that the intraspecific hybrids performed better than the purebred fish in the controlled and suboptimal rearing conditions.

• Klíčová slova
• aquaculture, fitness-related traits, hybrid, restocking, sturgeon,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Hybridization between distinct species of animals and subsequent genetic introgression plays a considerable role in the speciation process and the emergence of adaptive characters. Fitness of between-species hybrids usually sharply decreases with the divergence time of the concerned species and the divergence depth, which still allows for a successful crossing differs among principal clades of vertebrates. Recently, a review of hybridization events among distinct lizard species revealed that lizards belong to vertebrates with a highly developed ability to hybridize. In spite of this, reliable reports of experimental hybridizations between genetically fairly divergent species are only exceptional. Here, we show the results of the crossing of two distinct allopatric species of eyelid geckos possessing temperature sex determination and lacking sex chromosomes: Eublepharis macularius distributed in Pakistan/Afghanistan area and E. angramainyu, which inhabits Mesopotamia and adjacent areas. We demonstrated that F1 hybrids were viable and fertile, and the introgression of E. angramainyu genes into the E. macularius genome can be enabled via a backcrossing. The examined hybrids (except those of the F2 generation) displayed neither malformations nor a reduced survival. Analyses of morphometric and coloration traits confirmed phenotypic distinctness of both parental species and their F1 hybrids. These findings contrast with long-term geographic and an evolutionary separation of the studied species. Thus, the occurrence of fertile hybrids of comparably divergent species, such as E. angramainyu and E. macularius, may also be expected in other taxa of squamates. This would violate the current estimates of species diversity in lizards.

• MeSH
• druhová specificita MeSH
• fenotyp * MeSH
• fertilita genetika   MeSH
• genetická variace * MeSH
• hybridizace genetická genetika   MeSH
• ještěři genetika   MeSH
• pohlavní chromozomy MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH