Understanding the ecological, behavioural and evolutionary response of organisms to changing environments is of primary importance in a human‐altered world. It is crucial to elucidate how human activities alter gene flow and what are the consequences for the genetic structure of a species. We studied two lineages of the Egyptian fruit bat ( Rousettus aegyptiacus ) throughout the contact zone between mesic and arid Ecozones in...

Here, we present a study of the population genetic architecture and microevolution of the Egyptian fruit bat ( R ousettus aegyptiacus ) at the environmental margins in the Middle East using mitochondrial sequences and nuclear microsatellites. In contrast to the rather homogenous population structure typical of cave‐dwelling bats in climax tropical ecosystems, a relatively pronounced isolation by distance and population diversi...

An earlier study revealed the strong phylogeographical structure of the lesser white‐toothed shrew ( Crocidura suaveolens group) within the northern Palaearctic. Here, we aim to reconstruct the colonization history of Mediterranean islands and to clarify the biogeography and phylogeographical relationships of the poorly documented Middle East region with the northern Palaearctic. We performed analyses on 998‐bp‐long haplotypes...