Balkan Journal of Wildlife Research ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 87 2014, vol. 1, iss. 1, pp.87-93 Sprecial issue ISSN: 2335-0113 Original scientific paper UDC: 599:575 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15679/bjwr.v1i1.17 GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION OF GREY WOLF POPULATION (CANIS LUPUS L.) FROM BALKAN AND CARPATHIANS Bakan, J. 1 , Lavadinović, V. 2 , Popović, Z. 3 , Paule, L., 1 Summary: Genetic differentiation of grey wolf (Canis lupus) populations from the Balkans (Serbia and Bulgaria) and the Western Carpathians was studied by means of using tissue and bone samples from legally hunted wolves. In total, 339 samples of tissues and bones and small number of feaces, blood and urine samples were used. Genotyping was based on 15 microsatellites of nuclear DNA. Genetic differentiation was studied using Bayesian approach (STRUCTURE software). Obtained results showed the differenetiation between the Balkan and the Carpathian populations as well as between the Bulgarian population and both populations from Serbia and Slovakia. There are indications of migration towards west. Although these results are based on the nuclear markers, it would be advised to reanalyze the samples using mtDNA markers. Key words: Carpathians, Balkan, genetic differentiation, Canis lupus Introduction Despite grey wolf (Canis lupus, L.) fascinates humans, its competition with men led to overhunting and population decline which even brought the species to the edge of extinction in some parts of Europe. This negative trend resulted with several isolated wolf populations in Iberian, Apennine and Balkan peninsulas as well in eastern parts of Europe. Nevertheless recent increase of environmental awareness among Europeans supported wildlife managers’ and scientists’ efforts to recover abundance of wolves. Wolves were able to spread back in suitable areas of northern and central Slovakia, while their number in Bulgaria and Serbia is stabilized again. Several authors (Rueness et al. 2003; Dalén et al. 2005) find that carnivores with large distributions, such wolf is, have cryptic genetic structures that cannot be described by geographic or historic factors. Mobility of wolves is not restricted by the types of landscapes, natural and man-made barriers, but more likely some ecological factors which could restrict migrations and, in some cases, lead to isolation. Thus in the recent years phylogeography of wolf in Europe became common research topic. According to Pilot et al. (2010) European haplotypes of wolf belong to two large haplogroups which differ between south-western Europe (Iberian and Apennine peninsula) and Eastern Europe (Balkan, eastern and south-eastern Europe). Same authors found phylogeographic differences between northern lowland populations and mountain populations from southern Europe. Shortcoming of this work is insufficiency of experimental material from the whole Carpathian range, except southern Poland, and Balkan. Aim of this study was to compare the genetic diversity of two wolf populations – Balkan one, represented by the sample of wolves from Serbia and Carpathian one, represented by the sample of wolves from Slovakia, the westernmost group within the Carpathians. These two populations will be compared with the sample from Bulgaria which might be a possible source for possible gene flow towards western Balkan and/or to central Europe. 1 Jana Bakan, PhD, Technical University, Zvolen, Slovakia; 2 Vukan Lavadinović, MSc, Faculty of Forestry, University of Belgrade, Serbia 3 . Zoran Popović, PhD, professor, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, Serbia 1 Ladislav Paule, PhD, professor, Technical University, Zvolen, Slovakia