Autosomal SNP-genotype data of brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Finland ...

• Main Authors: Kopatz, Alexander, Norman, Anita J., Spong, Göran, Valtonen, Mia, Kojola, Ilpo, Aspi, Jouni, Kindberg, Jonas, Flagstad, Øystein, Kleven, Oddmund
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2024
• Subjects: FOS Biological sciences; single-nucleotide polymorphism; SNP; brown bear; Ursus arctos; Finland; Wildlife monitoring; DNA; Norway; karelia*; karelian
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.t76hdr87v; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.t76hdr87v

Harmonising methodology between countries is crucial in transborder population monitoring. However, immediate application of alleged, established DNA-based methods across the extended area can entail drawbacks and may lead to biases. Therefore, genetic methods need to be tested across the whole area before being deployed. Around 4,500 brown bears (Ursus arctos) live in Norway, Sweden, and Finland and they are divided into the western (Scandinavian) and eastern (Karelian) population. Both populations have recovered and are connected via asymmetric migration. DNA-based population monitoring in Norway and Sweden uses the same set of genetic markers. With Finland aiming to implement monitoring, we tested the available SNP-panel developed to assess brown bears in Norway and Sweden, on tissue samples from a representative set of 93 legally harvested individuals from Finland. The aim was to test for ascertainment bias and evaluate its suitability for DNA-based transnational-monitoring covering all three countries. ... : 93 tissue samples collected 2011-2017 from legally harvested male brown bears in Finland were genotyped with the SNP panel developed for Swedish brown bears (Norman et al. 2013) including its latest adjustments (Norman and Spong 2015). The SNP-genotyping was performed on a BioMark (Fluidigm Corporation, San Francisco, USA) at the laboratory of NINAGEN Centre for Biodiversity Genetics at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research in Trondheim following manufacturer’s instructions. The data file includes the quality assured genotype data that has been used to assess and analyse for the study. ...