Lidia Yalkovskaya

A phylogeographic analysis of A. agrarius based on the complete mtDNA cytochrome b and control region sequences has been performed using data obtained for the first time for the species from large regions of the central part of Northern Eurasia (23 localities of Altai, Western Siberia, and the Urals). The obtained results have demonstrated a complex intraspecific differentiation of A. agrarius, which has manifested not only in the isolation of the isles populations in Southeast Asia (Jeju and Taiwan), but also in the genetic heterogeneity of mainland populations, which has reflected the history of the modern intraspecific genetic diversity formation against the background of changing physiographic conditions of Eurasia in the Quaternary. The divergence of genetic lineages has taken place apparently simultaneously (in mid-Pleistocene) on the territory of the Eastern part of the modern disjunctive range, where all the identified lineages are present today. The demographic history and ...

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) is undirected differ-ences in the measurements or expression of characterson the right and left sides of the body (R–L). A numberof studies have shown that FA, which is usually treatedas a measure of ontogenetic instability, increases underthe influence of various stress factors. Although thisdependence is not always easily detectable, FA is fre-quently used for the estimation of the population state[1, 2]. At the same time, the nature and evolutionaryimplication of FA remain uncertain [3–5]. It is gener-ally accepted that the genetic control of FA is mainlyprovided by epistatic interactions [6–8]. These interac-tions probably change in the course of evolution(in particular, at early evolutionary stages); therefore, itis reasonable to expect that taxa (in particular, species)would differ in the FA of the same characters. In thisstudy, species and population features of the FA of cra-nial measurements in four rodent species are examinedfrom the evolutionary point of view.Rodent species, sampling points, pollution charac-teristics, and sample sizes are shown in the table. Eachspecies examined is represented by two populationsamples differing in the degree of technogenic stress,including (1) a reference sample, with a relatively lowstress and (2) a sample exposed to a greater impact ofindustries. The population stress was estimated by theaverage frequency of chromosome aberrations in bonemarrow cells. In the reference population of each spe-cies, the frequency of aberrations was significantlylower (χ