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Genetics of sika and red deer in the New Forest
Sika deer were introduced to Britain from Japan and are now widespread. In southern England there are particular concentration of populations in the New Forest and in Purbeck. The New Forest also has Red deer and in many parts of Britain red and sika deer hybridise. We investigated the genetic structure of the sika and red deer in the New Forest and Purbeck to ask:
- Are Purbeck Sika genetically distinct from New Forest (NF) Sika?
- Do Purbeck Sika and/or NF Sika appear to be pure Sika?
- Is there evidence of genetic differences between the Purbeck populations of Sika?
To do this we asked stalkers to provide us with tissue samples from deer culled during normal management culls and used a genetic analysis technique called microsatellite analysis. DNA is extracted from tissue, amplified and then run on gels. Different sized DNA fragments run at different speeds producing a unique fingerprint for each animal. Some of the bands on the finger print denote red deer DNA and others denote sika deer DNA and in this way it is possible to determine if hybridisation has occurred. We have found that the sika and the red deer in the New Forest were very genetically distinct and that there was no evidence of recent hybridisation. However, although there was no overall significant genetic difference between the Purbeck and New Forest sika deer the Purbeck sika contained more red deer DNA contamination These red deer genes will have entered the sika population many decades ago when the original animals were kept in deer parks together with red deer and there interbred.
For more details contact Dr Anita Diaz
