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Elevation Split Genetic Connectivity of European and Mountain Hares in the French Alps

Wild European hare in natural habitat
Research · Genetics & genomics

A landscape-genetics study in the French Alps found almost opposite patterns of genetic connectivity in European hare (Lepus europaeus) and mountain hare (Lepus timidus). The strongest mountain-hare connections occurred high in the Alps, while European-hare connectivity was concentrated in valleys and lower terrain.

The researchers genotyped more than 2,500 hares for microsatellites, short repeated DNA regions that vary among individuals and can be used as genetic markers. If animals from two parts of the landscape remain genetically similar, this indicates that dispersal between those areas has been followed by reproduction and gene flow. Genetic connectivity therefore describes successful movement across generations, not simply where individual hares were seen moving.

Landscape resistance showed where gene flow was easiest

The team compared genetic differences among hares with 13 landscape variables, including elevation, roads, urban areas, vegetation and water. Machine-learning models translated these variables into “resistance” surfaces. Low resistance means that a landscape is relatively permeable to movement that results in gene flow; high resistance means that such movement is more strongly impeded.

Both species showed only weak overall genetic structure across the French Alps, suggesting that gene flow is still widespread. The landscape nevertheless shaped where that connectivity was strongest.

Elevation affected the two hare species in opposite directions

For mountain hares, resistance declined as elevation increased and became very low above roughly 2,000 metres. Connectivity maps therefore concentrated the strongest corridors on high ground, with Alpine valleys creating breaks between high-elevation areas.

European hares showed the opposite broad pattern. Resistance increased with elevation, while the strongest connectivity occurred in western lowlands and along the floors of major Alpine valleys. The two species therefore use very different parts of the same mountain landscape as their easiest routes for effective dispersal.

Urban areas and roads were important, but not simple causal effects

Distance from urban areas was an important model variable for both species in the full-area analyses, and road variables also contributed. The authors caution, however, that these relationships should not automatically be interpreted as hares responding directly to towns or roads.

In the Alps, towns and major roads are concentrated in valleys that also provide the low-elevation climate preferred by European hares. A model can therefore associate gene flow with urban or road proximity partly because those features occur in the same parts of the landscape as suitable hare habitat. Results also varied among the five regional sub-areas, reinforcing the need for local interpretation.

European-hare habitat may add resistance for mountain hares

The mountain-hare models also included a map of habitat suitability for European hare as a proxy for possible interspecific competition. In most sub-areas, greater availability of habitat favourable to European hares was associated with higher resistance to mountain-hare gene flow, although the strength and shape of the relationship varied geographically.

The authors interpret this as evidence that expanding European hares may further restrict mountain-hare access to lower-elevation corridors already becoming less suitable as the climate warms. The study did not directly observe competitive encounters, so this remains an inference from the landscape-genetic pattern rather than proof that European hares physically exclude mountain hares from every shared area.

The conservation implication is clearest for the cold-adapted mountain hare: maintaining connections among high-elevation habitats may become increasingly important as warming pushes suitable conditions upward and lowland corridors become both climatically and competitively less favourable.

Sources and image credit

  1. Larroque, J., Bech, N., Perrot, C., Billaud, O., Doval, S., Mansons, J., Pirog, A., Canut, M., Letty, J., & Coulon, A. (2026). Global change and interspecific competition impacts on the genetic connectivity of mountain hare (Lepus timidus) and European hare (Lepus europaeus) populations in the French Alps. Global Change Biology, 32(5), e70918. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70918Primary open-access research article first published 19 May 2026 under CC BY. Microsatellite data from 1,564 mountain hares and 1,143 European hares across the French Alps showed species-specific and opposing genetic-connectivity patterns, with elevation favouring mountain-hare gene flow but limiting European-hare connectivity.

Image: Caroline Legg (cazalegg) / Wikimedia Commons — wild European hare photographed in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, 6 September 2025; representative species image; cropped to 16:9 · CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

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