Domestication is an intriguing evolutionary process. Many domestic populations are subjected to strong human‐mediated selection, and when some individuals return to the wild, they are again subjected to selective forces associated with new environments. Generally, these feral populations evolve into something different from their wild predecessors and their members typically possess a combination of both wild and human selected traits. Feralisation can manifest in different forms on a spectrum from a wild to a domestic phenotype. This depends on how the rewilded domesticated populations can readapt to natural environments based on how much potential and flexibility the ancestral genome retains after its domestication signature. Whether feralisation leads to the evolution of new traits that do not exist in the wild or to convergence with wild forms, however, remains unclear. To address this question, we performed population genomic, olfactory, dietary, and gut microbiota analyses on different populations of Sus scrofa (wild boar, hybrid, feral and several domestic pig breeds). Porcine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) analysis shows that the feral population represents a cluster distinctly separate from all others. Its members display signatures of past artificial selection, as demonstrated by values of F_ST in specific regions of the genome and bottleneck signature, such as the number and length of runs of homozygosity. Generalised F_ST values, reacquired olfactory abilities, diet, and gut microbiota variation show current responses to natural selection. Our results suggest that feral pigs are an independent evolutionary unit which can persist so long as levels of human intervention remain unchanged.

Mediterranean mountain landscapes are undergoing a widespread phenomenon of abandonment. This brings, as a consequence, the loss of traditional land use practices, such as transhumant pastoralism, as well as shrub and wood encroachment, with repercussions on the biodiversity associated with semi-open, human-managed landscapes. In this study, we focus on a mountain pasture from the Southern Apennines (Italy), where free-ranging transhumant grazing is still carried out, to quantify the effects of grazing presence and exclusion on arthropod diversity, and to qualitatively characterize the plant communities of grazed and ungrazed areas. Using field sampling, remote sensing, and semi-structured interviews, we assessed the validity of traditional cattle farming as a landscape management tool. Indeed, high diversity grasslands excluded from grazing were characterized by significantly less even and more dominated arthropod communities, as well as fewer plant species and families. Moreover, in areas that have been consistently grazed over the years, we found no forest encroachment from 1955 to 2019. However, rural communities are experiencing difficulties in keeping local traditions alive, even with current agri-environmental schemes. Thus, traditional livestock grazing can be a valuable management tool to maintain high biological and cultural diversity, even if stronger cooperation and attention to local needs is necessary.

Aim: The relation of plant dispersal syndromes with insular species richness patters remains one of the challenges in island biogeography, especially as people have affected species distribution patterns. This study disentangles how dispersal syndromes influence the relationship of richness with area and isolation while also accounting for the human impact on island biodiversity. It builds on the potential of islands at the mesoscale and of similar origin to contribute to the ongoing discussion in island biogeography on what determines species richness and filtering.Location: Denmark, 54 islands in the North and Baltic Sea.Taxon: Vascular plants, including pteridophytes.Methods: Generalized linear models (GLMs) and linear regressions are used to analyse how dispersal syndromes influence the relationships of species numbers with island area and isolation, as well as island inhabitation and human density, respectively.Results: Species numbers, seed mass and the proportion of zoochore and anemochore species are positively related to island area while the share of water‐dispersed species decreases with increasing area. Isolation is weakly related to mean seed mass but has no explaining power for species numbers and the presence of specific dispersal syndrome on the target islands. Species richness and seed mass were positively related to human presence.Main conclusions: Human impact for centuries has not overwritten the strong relationship of species richness with area on the Danish Islands but is affecting the shape of this relationship. Island area constitutes a strong filter for different dispersal syndromes and leads to the assumption that heavier and animal‐dispersed seeds are positively related to area due to the presence of more bird and mammal species. Human‐induced loss of isolation caused by ongoing traffic and the connection of landmasses by bridges and ferries may be a reason for the overall low explanatory power of island isolation.