Genetic Variation in Bank Vole Populations in Natural and Metal-Contaminated Areas

The effects of isolation and heavy-metal pollution on genetic diversity in Myodes (=Clethrionomys) glareolus populations were studied. Isolation and pollution are considered to have important effects on biodiversity. Animals were collected from ten populations in isolated (island), mainland, and metal-polluted areas. Three populations were in areas near zinc and lead smelters; four were on islands in the relatively unpolluted Mazurian Lake District and in the Bieszczady Mountains; and three were in clean-mainland areas in the Mazurian Lake District, the Niepołomice Forest, and the Bieszczady Mountains. Cadmium and lead concentrations in liver and kidney were measured to assess the animals’ exposure to metals. The metal concentrations were greater in animals from areas classed as polluted than in animals from the clean-mainland areas and islands. The genetic diversity of each population was analyzed using eight microsatellite markers. The results confirmed that isolation adversely affects genetic diversity in M. glareolus populations (giving low heterozygosity and poor allelic richness), but the effect of metal exposure on genetic diversity was not strong. Of the samples from polluted areas, only the Katowice population, which is exposed to high levels of metal pollution and is also isolated because of human activity, showed genetic variation parameters that were similar to those for the island populations. Nei’s genetic distances indicated that the island populations were genetically distant from each other and from the other populations, and there were noticeable inbreeding effects that would have been caused by the isolation of these populations.