Demographic history of a recent invasion of house mice on the isolated I sland of G ough

House mice on Gough Island, one of the world's most remote islands, have undergone rapid phenotypic evolution following a 19th-century introduction by sealers. Genetic analysis reveals that these mice belong to the Mus musculus domesticus subspecies, with maternal ancestry tracing back to England or France, and show signs of admixed origins from multiple Western European coastal populations. The population experienced a severe bottleneck—an estimated 98% reduction in size—followed by rapid expansion around 100 years ago. This demographic history, inferred through mitochondrial sequences, nuclear sequences, and microsatellites, alongside Approximate Bayesian computation (ABC), provides a model for studying rapid evolutionary change in isolated environments. The study highlights Gough Island mice as a valuable system for understanding how populations adapt to new ecological pressures.

Gray, M. M., Wegmann, D., Haasl, R. J., White, M. A., Gabriel, S. I., Searle, J. B., Cuthbert, R. J., Ryan, P. G., & Payseur, B. A. (2014). Demographic history of a recent invasion of house mice on the isolated I sland of G ough. Molecular Ecology, 23(8), 1923–1939. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.12715