Blood proteins of red deer introduced to Patagonia: genetic origins and variability

Abstract

A small group of European red deer (Cervus elaphus elaphus) was introduced into the foothills of the Andesin Patagonia in the early 1920s. This species adapted well to the habitat and climatic conditions in the area and presently maynumber over 100 000 animals. Several indices commonly used to evaluate the fitness of a species in its environmentindicate that red deer thrive under very favourable conditions in Patagonia; for example, body size, antler development,reproductive rates, herd health, and longevity are near the maximum described for the species. Furthermore, some localpopulations occur at densities much higher than encountered in their native ranges. The objective was to examine severalbiological enzyme systems to test for variance in protein polymorphism in comparison to populations of red deer in otherparts of the world. The protein systems examined by electrophoresis in the plasma included: post-transferrin, transferrin,vitamin D binding protein, plasminogen, and complement component; and in the erythrocytes: hemoglobin, superoxidedismutase, glucose phosphate isomerase, and diaphorase I. Variation in plasminogen was lower than is typical for reddeer, and glucose phosphate isomerase showed no variation. Furthermore, some occurrences of alleles typical for NorthAmerican wapiti (Cervus elaphus canadensis) indicate that the introduced deer originated from English or European deerparks which have had a history of introductions of wapiti in the past. In New Zealand, the superoxide dismutase alleletypical for wapiti was found in 1% of red deer, whereas it occurred in 11% of animals in the present study. Polymorphismmeasured across the nine examined protein systems was 2.0 alleles per locus with an overall heterozygosity of 0.30. The lowvariations are likely the result of the introduction based on few individuals. However, the outstanding performance ofthe present population contradicts the existence of any overt impact from this founder effect. The observed large body sizesmay not only be due to good environmental conditions, but also due to previous hybridisation with wapiti. Severalspecimens were heterozygous and one specimen was homozygous for wapiti hemoglobin.