Data from: The challenges of detecting subtle population structure and its importance for the conservation of emperor penguins ...

• Main Authors: Younger, Jane L., Clucas, Gemma V., Kao, Damian, Rogers, Alex D., Gharbi, Karim, Hart, Tom, Miller, Karen J.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2017
• Subjects: Aptenodytes forsteri; Ross Sea; Antarc*; Antarctica; Emperor penguins; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4s7t3; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.4s7t3

Understanding the boundaries of breeding populations is of great importance for conservation efforts and estimates of extinction risk for threatened species. However, determining these boundaries can be difficult when population structure is subtle. Emperor penguins are highly reliant on sea ice, and some populations may be in jeopardy as climate change alters sea-ice extent and quality. An understanding of emperor penguin population structure is therefore urgently needed. Two previous studies have differed in their conclusions, particularly whether the Ross Sea, a major stronghold for the species, is isolated or not. We assessed emperor penguin population structure using 4,596 genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), characterized in 110 individuals (10–16 per colony) from eight colonies around Antarctica. In contrast to a previous conclusion that emperor penguins are panmictic around the entire continent, we find that emperor penguins comprise at least four metapopulations, and that the Ross Sea ... : Emperor penguin neutral SNP datasetEP_final.vcf ...