How Geography and Climate Shaped the Genomic Diversity of Italian Local Cattle and Sheep Breed
Senczuk, G.; Criscione, A.; Mastrangelo, S.; Biscarini, F.; Marletta, D.; Pilla, F.; Laloë, D.; Ciampolini, R. How Geography and Climate Shaped the Genomic Diversity of Italian Local Cattle and Sheep Breeds. Animals2022, 12, 2198.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12172198
This paper studies the inter-relationships among geography, climate, and genetics in Italian local cattle and sheep breeds. In terms of genetic diversity, geography (latitude and longitude) appears to play a larger role in sheep (26.4%) than that in cattle (13.8%).
These stronger geographic effects in sheep can be related to a combination of higher predomestication genetic variability together with biological and productive specializations. The climate alone seems to have had less impact on the current genetic diversity in both species even if climate and geography are greatly confounded. Results confirm that both species are the result of complex evolutionary histories triggered by interactions between human needs and environmental conditions.
