High genetic variability of vagrant polar bears illustrates importance of population connectivity in fragmented sea ice habitats
Projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and sea ice forecasts suggest that Arctic sea ice will decline markedly in coming decades. Expected effects on the entire ecosystem include a contraction of suitable polar bear habitat into one or few refugia. Such large-scale habit...
Published in: | Animal Conservation |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Uppsala universitet, Evolutionsbiologi
2016
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-305942 https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12250 |
id |
ftuppsalauniv:oai:DiVA.org:uu-305942 |
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record_format |
openpolar |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftuppsalauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
climate change dispersal genetic variability habitat fragmentation inbreeding Arctic sea ice Ursus maritimus polar bear Evolutionary Biology Evolutionsbiologi Ecology Ekologi |
spellingShingle |
climate change dispersal genetic variability habitat fragmentation inbreeding Arctic sea ice Ursus maritimus polar bear Evolutionary Biology Evolutionsbiologi Ecology Ekologi Kutschera, Verena E. Frosch, C. Janke, A. Skirnisson, K. Bidon, T. Lecomte, N. Fain, S. R. Eiken, H. G. Hagen, S. B. Arnason, U. Laidre, K. L. Nowak, C. Hailer, F. High genetic variability of vagrant polar bears illustrates importance of population connectivity in fragmented sea ice habitats |
topic_facet |
climate change dispersal genetic variability habitat fragmentation inbreeding Arctic sea ice Ursus maritimus polar bear Evolutionary Biology Evolutionsbiologi Ecology Ekologi |
description |
Projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and sea ice forecasts suggest that Arctic sea ice will decline markedly in coming decades. Expected effects on the entire ecosystem include a contraction of suitable polar bear habitat into one or few refugia. Such large-scale habitat decline and fragmentation could lead to reduced genetic diversity. Here we compare genetic variability of four vagrant polar bears that reached Iceland with that in recognized subpopulations from across the range, examining 23 autosomal microsatellites, mitochondrial control region sequences and Y-chromosomal markers. The vagrants' genotypes grouped with different genetic clusters and showed similar genetic variability at autosomal microsatellites (expected heterozygosity, allelic richness, and individual heterozygosity) as individuals in recognized subpopulations. Each vagrant carried a different mitochondrial haplotype. A likely route for polar bears to reach Iceland is via Fram Strait, a major gateway for the physical exportation of sea ice from the Arctic basin. Vagrant polar bears on Iceland likely originated from more than one recognized subpopulation, and may have been caught in sea ice export during long-distance movements to the East Greenland area. Although their potentially diverse geographic origins might suggest that these vagrants encompass much higher genetic variability than vagrants or dispersers in other regions, the four Icelandic vagrants encompassed similar genetic variability as any four randomly picked individuals from a single subpopulation or from the entire sample. We suggest that this is a consequence of the low overall genetic variability and weak range-wide genetic structuring of polar bears - few dispersers can represent a large portion of the species' gene pool. As predicted by theory and our demographic simulations, continued gene flow will be necessary to counteract loss of genetic variability in increasingly fragmented Arctic habitats. Similar considerations will be important in ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kutschera, Verena E. Frosch, C. Janke, A. Skirnisson, K. Bidon, T. Lecomte, N. Fain, S. R. Eiken, H. G. Hagen, S. B. Arnason, U. Laidre, K. L. Nowak, C. Hailer, F. |
author_facet |
Kutschera, Verena E. Frosch, C. Janke, A. Skirnisson, K. Bidon, T. Lecomte, N. Fain, S. R. Eiken, H. G. Hagen, S. B. Arnason, U. Laidre, K. L. Nowak, C. Hailer, F. |
author_sort |
Kutschera, Verena E. |
title |
High genetic variability of vagrant polar bears illustrates importance of population connectivity in fragmented sea ice habitats |
title_short |
High genetic variability of vagrant polar bears illustrates importance of population connectivity in fragmented sea ice habitats |
title_full |
High genetic variability of vagrant polar bears illustrates importance of population connectivity in fragmented sea ice habitats |
title_fullStr |
High genetic variability of vagrant polar bears illustrates importance of population connectivity in fragmented sea ice habitats |
title_full_unstemmed |
High genetic variability of vagrant polar bears illustrates importance of population connectivity in fragmented sea ice habitats |
title_sort |
high genetic variability of vagrant polar bears illustrates importance of population connectivity in fragmented sea ice habitats |
publisher |
Uppsala universitet, Evolutionsbiologi |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-305942 https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12250 |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Basin Arctic Climate change East Greenland Fram Strait Greenland Iceland Sea ice Ursus maritimus |
genre_facet |
Arctic Basin Arctic Climate change East Greenland Fram Strait Greenland Iceland Sea ice Ursus maritimus |
op_relation |
Animal Conservation, 1367-9430, 2016, 19:4, s. 337-349 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-305942 doi:10.1111/acv.12250 ISI:000381208400006 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12250 |
container_title |
Animal Conservation |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
337 |
op_container_end_page |
349 |
_version_ |
1766303361120862208 |
spelling |
ftuppsalauniv:oai:DiVA.org:uu-305942 2023-05-15T14:29:19+02:00 High genetic variability of vagrant polar bears illustrates importance of population connectivity in fragmented sea ice habitats Kutschera, Verena E. Frosch, C. Janke, A. Skirnisson, K. Bidon, T. Lecomte, N. Fain, S. R. Eiken, H. G. Hagen, S. B. Arnason, U. Laidre, K. L. Nowak, C. Hailer, F. 2016 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-305942 https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12250 eng eng Uppsala universitet, Evolutionsbiologi Senckenberg Gesell Nat Forsch, Senckenberg Biodivers & Climate Res Ctr BiK F, Frankfurt, Germany. Senckenberg Res Inst, Conservat Genet Grp, Gelnhausen, Germany.;Nat Hist Museum Frankfurt, Gelnhausen, Germany. Senckenberg Gesell Nat Forsch, Senckenberg Biodivers & Climate Res Ctr BiK F, Frankfurt, Germany.;Goethe Univ Frankfurt, Inst Ecol Evolut & Divers, Frankfurt, Germany. Inst Expt Pathol, Keldur, Iceland.;Univ Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland. Univ Moncton, Dept Biol, Polar & Boreal Ecol, Moncton, NB, Canada.;Govt Nunavut, Igloolik, NU, Canada. Natl Fish & Wildlife Forens Lab, Ashland, OR USA. Norwegian Inst Bioecon Res, NIBIO, Svanvik, Norway. Lund Univ, Fac Med, Lund, Sweden. Univ Washington, Appl Phys Lab, Polar Sci Ctr, Seattle, WA 98105 USA. Senckenberg Gesell Nat Forsch, Senckenberg Biodivers & Climate Res Ctr BiK F, Frankfurt, Germany.;Cardiff Univ, Sch Biosci, Cardiff CF10 3AX, S Glam, Wales. Animal Conservation, 1367-9430, 2016, 19:4, s. 337-349 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-305942 doi:10.1111/acv.12250 ISI:000381208400006 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess climate change dispersal genetic variability habitat fragmentation inbreeding Arctic sea ice Ursus maritimus polar bear Evolutionary Biology Evolutionsbiologi Ecology Ekologi Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2016 ftuppsalauniv https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12250 2023-02-23T21:37:30Z Projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and sea ice forecasts suggest that Arctic sea ice will decline markedly in coming decades. Expected effects on the entire ecosystem include a contraction of suitable polar bear habitat into one or few refugia. Such large-scale habitat decline and fragmentation could lead to reduced genetic diversity. Here we compare genetic variability of four vagrant polar bears that reached Iceland with that in recognized subpopulations from across the range, examining 23 autosomal microsatellites, mitochondrial control region sequences and Y-chromosomal markers. The vagrants' genotypes grouped with different genetic clusters and showed similar genetic variability at autosomal microsatellites (expected heterozygosity, allelic richness, and individual heterozygosity) as individuals in recognized subpopulations. Each vagrant carried a different mitochondrial haplotype. A likely route for polar bears to reach Iceland is via Fram Strait, a major gateway for the physical exportation of sea ice from the Arctic basin. Vagrant polar bears on Iceland likely originated from more than one recognized subpopulation, and may have been caught in sea ice export during long-distance movements to the East Greenland area. Although their potentially diverse geographic origins might suggest that these vagrants encompass much higher genetic variability than vagrants or dispersers in other regions, the four Icelandic vagrants encompassed similar genetic variability as any four randomly picked individuals from a single subpopulation or from the entire sample. We suggest that this is a consequence of the low overall genetic variability and weak range-wide genetic structuring of polar bears - few dispersers can represent a large portion of the species' gene pool. As predicted by theory and our demographic simulations, continued gene flow will be necessary to counteract loss of genetic variability in increasingly fragmented Arctic habitats. Similar considerations will be important in ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Basin Arctic Climate change East Greenland Fram Strait Greenland Iceland Sea ice Ursus maritimus Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) Arctic Greenland Animal Conservation 19 4 337 349 |