Phylogeography of red deer (Cervus elaphus) in Europe

The patterns of genetic variation of present-day European terrestrial fauna and flora have been influenced by repetitive fluctuations between major glacial and interglacial climatic cycles that have occurred during the Quaternary period (Hewitt, 2004, and references therein). The isolation of species into one or more refugia during the glaciations (Hewitt, 1996) and the mode of post-glacial colonization (Ibrahim et al., 1996) are regarded as processes that are particularly influential Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, Zoologisches Institut, Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, Germany, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Trondheim, Norway, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Regioni Lazio e Toscana Unità Specialistica di Medicina Forense Veterinaria Terrestre e Marina, Reiti, Italy and Department of Fish and Pet Animal Breeding, Faculty of Animal Science, University of Kaposvar, Kaposvar, Hungary