Data from: Using a reference population yardstick to calibrate and compare genetic diversity reported in different studies: an example from the brown bear.

• Main Authors: Skrbinšek, Tomaž, Jelenčič, Maja, Waits, Lisette P., Potočnik, Hubert, Trontelj, Peter
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: user manual; Ursus arctos; brown bear; reference population approach; Kos
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/4983552; https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qt3j5

In species with large geographic ranges, genetic diversity of different populations may be well studied, but differences in loci and sample sizes can make the results of different studies difficult to compare. Yet, such comparisons are important for assessing the status of populations of conservation concern. We propose a simple approach of using a single well-studied reference population as a "yardstick" to calibrate results of different studies to the same scale, enabling comparisons. We use a well-studied large carnivore, the brown bear (Ursus arctos), as a case study to demonstrate the approach. As a reference population, we genotyped 513 brown bears from Slovenia using 20 polymorphic microsatellite loci. We used this dataset to calibrate and compare heterozygosity and allelic richness for 30 brown bear populations from 10 different studies across the global distribution of the species. The simplicity of the reference population approach makes it useful for other species, enabling comparisons of genetic diversity estimates between previously incompatible studies and improving our understanding of how genetic diversity is distributed along a species range. Brown bear genotypes from Slovenia (Northern Dinaric Mountains) - tab delimited txtThe dataset contains genotypes of 513 brown bears genotyped on 20 microsatellite loci. They were obtained by genotyping tissue samples of legally killed bears between 2003 and 2008. The genotypes are mostly complete, there are missing data on a single locus in two samples (denoted "NA"). | Columns in the table: | sample - laboratory name of the sample | sex - sex of the animal (recorded by the field crew and rechecked by genotyping the SRY marker) | Genotypes: alleles at each locus are recorded in two columns, e.g. Cxx20_1, Cxx20_2. Missing data are recorded as "NA". | Note: this dataset mostly corresponds to the dataset used in the manuscript: Skrbinšek T, Jelenčič M, Waits L, Kos I, Jerina K, Trontelj P (2012). Monitoring the effective population size of a brown bear ...