Abstract
Abstract A population genetic study of the wolf, Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758, was carried out on a part of the range in Russia and Kazakhstan with a focus on the origin, the state of the gene pool and the status of the steppe wolf (nominative subspecies C. l. campestris). Using the analysis of 18 nuclear microsatellite loci, it was shown that the level of intrapopulation genetic diversity of the steppe wolf of Kazakhstan is quite high; the allelic and genetic diversity is comparable with the populations of the steppe wolf in other regions (steppes of the European south of Russia) and forest and mountain-forest ecotypes inhabiting the Caucasus, the Urals, and Western Siberia. The analysis of the differentiation of the studied samples in the STRUCTURE program allows us to conclude that the steppe wolf gene pool contains both a local cluster of genotypes and immigrants from neighboring territories adjacent to the steppe from the north. The possible impact of anthropogenic pressure in the form of population regulation in the Soviet and post-Soviet times and subsequent recolonization from surrounding donor populations is discussed.