Genetic diversity of historical Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) from Bjørnøya and Håøya (Tusenøyane), Svalbard, Norway
Abstract Background The population size of Atlantic walruses ( Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus ) is depleted relative to historical abundance levels. In Svalbard, centuries of over-exploitation brought the walrus herds to the verge of extinction, and such bottlenecks may have caused loss of genetic varia...
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ftbiomed:oai:biomedcentral.com:s13104-016-1907-8 2023-05-15T15:44:50+02:00 Genetic diversity of historical Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) from Bjørnøya and Håøya (Tusenøyane), Svalbard, Norway Lindqvist, Charlotte Roy, Tilottama Lydersen, Christian Kovacs, Kit Aars, Jon Wiig, Øystein Bachmann, Lutz 2016-02-18 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1756-0500/9/112 en eng BioMed Central Ltd. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1756-0500/9/112 Copyright 2016 Lindqvist et al. Ancient DNA Genetic bottleneck Mitochondrial DNA Over-exploitation Sequence diversity Spitsbergen Short Report 2016 ftbiomed 2016-02-21T04:41:06Z Abstract Background The population size of Atlantic walruses ( Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus ) is depleted relative to historical abundance levels. In Svalbard, centuries of over-exploitation brought the walrus herds to the verge of extinction, and such bottlenecks may have caused loss of genetic variation. To address this for Svalbard walruses, mitochondrial haplotypes of historical walruses from two major haul-out sites, Bjørnøya and Håøya, within the Archipelago were explored using bone samples from animals killed during the peak period of harvesting. Results Using ancient DNA methodologies, the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase 1 (ND1) gene, the cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) gene, and the control region (CR) were targeted for 15 specimens from Bjørnøya (of which five were entirely negative) and 9 specimens from Håøya (of which one was entirely negative). While ND1 and COI sequences were obtained for only a few samples, the CR delivered the most comprehensive data set, and the average genetic distance among historic Svalbard samples was 0.0028 (SD = 0.0023). Conclusions The CR sequences from the historical samples appear to be nested among contemporary Atlantic walruses, and no distinct mitochondrial haplogroups were identified in the historical samples that may have been lost during the periods of extensive hunting. However, given the low sample size and poor phylogenetic resolution it cannot be excluded that such haplogroups existed. Other/Unknown Material Bjørnøya Odobenus rosmarus Svalbard Tusenøyane Spitsbergen walrus* BioMed Central Bjørnøya ENVELOPE(-67.250,-67.250,-68.151,-68.151) Norway Svalbard Tusenøyane ENVELOPE(22.084,22.084,77.106,77.106) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
BioMed Central |
op_collection_id |
ftbiomed |
language |
English |
topic |
Ancient DNA Genetic bottleneck Mitochondrial DNA Over-exploitation Sequence diversity Spitsbergen |
spellingShingle |
Ancient DNA Genetic bottleneck Mitochondrial DNA Over-exploitation Sequence diversity Spitsbergen Lindqvist, Charlotte Roy, Tilottama Lydersen, Christian Kovacs, Kit Aars, Jon Wiig, Øystein Bachmann, Lutz Genetic diversity of historical Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) from Bjørnøya and Håøya (Tusenøyane), Svalbard, Norway |
topic_facet |
Ancient DNA Genetic bottleneck Mitochondrial DNA Over-exploitation Sequence diversity Spitsbergen |
description |
Abstract Background The population size of Atlantic walruses ( Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus ) is depleted relative to historical abundance levels. In Svalbard, centuries of over-exploitation brought the walrus herds to the verge of extinction, and such bottlenecks may have caused loss of genetic variation. To address this for Svalbard walruses, mitochondrial haplotypes of historical walruses from two major haul-out sites, Bjørnøya and Håøya, within the Archipelago were explored using bone samples from animals killed during the peak period of harvesting. Results Using ancient DNA methodologies, the mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase 1 (ND1) gene, the cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) gene, and the control region (CR) were targeted for 15 specimens from Bjørnøya (of which five were entirely negative) and 9 specimens from Håøya (of which one was entirely negative). While ND1 and COI sequences were obtained for only a few samples, the CR delivered the most comprehensive data set, and the average genetic distance among historic Svalbard samples was 0.0028 (SD = 0.0023). Conclusions The CR sequences from the historical samples appear to be nested among contemporary Atlantic walruses, and no distinct mitochondrial haplogroups were identified in the historical samples that may have been lost during the periods of extensive hunting. However, given the low sample size and poor phylogenetic resolution it cannot be excluded that such haplogroups existed. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Lindqvist, Charlotte Roy, Tilottama Lydersen, Christian Kovacs, Kit Aars, Jon Wiig, Øystein Bachmann, Lutz |
author_facet |
Lindqvist, Charlotte Roy, Tilottama Lydersen, Christian Kovacs, Kit Aars, Jon Wiig, Øystein Bachmann, Lutz |
author_sort |
Lindqvist, Charlotte |
title |
Genetic diversity of historical Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) from Bjørnøya and Håøya (Tusenøyane), Svalbard, Norway |
title_short |
Genetic diversity of historical Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) from Bjørnøya and Håøya (Tusenøyane), Svalbard, Norway |
title_full |
Genetic diversity of historical Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) from Bjørnøya and Håøya (Tusenøyane), Svalbard, Norway |
title_fullStr |
Genetic diversity of historical Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) from Bjørnøya and Håøya (Tusenøyane), Svalbard, Norway |
title_full_unstemmed |
Genetic diversity of historical Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) from Bjørnøya and Håøya (Tusenøyane), Svalbard, Norway |
title_sort |
genetic diversity of historical atlantic walruses (odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) from bjørnøya and håøya (tusenøyane), svalbard, norway |
publisher |
BioMed Central Ltd. |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1756-0500/9/112 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-67.250,-67.250,-68.151,-68.151) ENVELOPE(22.084,22.084,77.106,77.106) |
geographic |
Bjørnøya Norway Svalbard Tusenøyane |
geographic_facet |
Bjørnøya Norway Svalbard Tusenøyane |
genre |
Bjørnøya Odobenus rosmarus Svalbard Tusenøyane Spitsbergen walrus* |
genre_facet |
Bjørnøya Odobenus rosmarus Svalbard Tusenøyane Spitsbergen walrus* |
op_relation |
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1756-0500/9/112 |
op_rights |
Copyright 2016 Lindqvist et al. |
_version_ |
1766379194140327936 |