Contrasting levels of genetic differentiation among populations of wolverines (Gulo gulo) from northern Canada revealed by nuclear and mitochondrial loci

Abstract

Habitat loss, fragmentation, overharvest, and other anthropogenic factors have resulted in population and distribution declines for North American wolverines (Gulo gulo). Currently, wolverines east of the Hudson

When east meets west: population structure of a high-latitude resident species, the boreal chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus)

“…Both mtDNA and microsatellite data show significant isolation-by-distance, and short distance (o40 km) dispersal is supported by banding records. Reduced dispersal is consistent with other non-migratory, resident species, including both birds (Burg et al, 2005;Graham and Burg, 2012;Lait et al, 2012) and mammals (Chappell et al, 2004;Aubry et al, 2009;Shafer et al, 2010a).…”

“…The location of suitable boreal chickadee habitat at the LGM in Beringia, the west coast of North America, the southern United States and Newfoundland (Figure 5b) is consistent with putative refugia described in other species (Chappell et al, 2004;Jaramillo-Correa et al, 2004;Colbeck et al, 2008;de Lafontaine et al, 2010;Graham and Burg, 2012;Pulgarín-R and Burg, 2012). Patterns of genetic diversity in the boreal chickadee were as expected if multiple refugial populations merged following prolonged isolation, with higher diversity and private haplotypes in or near putative refugia (AKF and Atlantic Canada; Supplementary Table S5) and evidence of secondary mixing in the centre portion of their range (that is, SK, NON and NQC; Taberlet et al, 1998;Petit et al, 2003).…”

“…Although the majority of species thought to have persisted in Beringia are either restricted to the Northwest or Arctic regions (for example, Holder et al, 1999), evidence supports the use of this refugium by several widespread species, including the wolverine (Chappell et al, 2004) and red fox (Aubry et al, 2009), as well as black spruce and white spruce, two boreal trees upon which the boreal chickadee relies heavily (Jaramillo-Correa et al, 2004;Anderson et al, 2006;Gerardi et al, 2010).…”

Extirpation Risk of an Isolated Black Bear Population Under Different Management Scenarios

“…Our 1st goal was to assess the mitochondrial genetic structure of black bears across a 1,700-km continuum in a landscape that is largely homogeneous. We hypothesized that within this continuous landscape, due to black bear male-biased dispersal combined with female philopatry (Lee and Vaughan 2003;Rogers 1987) and the maternal mode of inheritance of mtDNA, our results would show strong differentiation among regions, a pattern that would not be observed with biparentally inherited neutral markers (Chappell et al 2004;Johnson et al 2003;Tomasik and Cook 2005). Our 2nd goal was to place the mtDNA results into a wider continental context by clarifying how Ontario black bears relate to other North American populations.…”

“…A problem that arises, however, is that research using combinations of neutral molecular marker types that have different rates of evolution and modes of inheritance can reveal contrasting patterns of genetic differentiation (Brito 2007;Flanders et al 2009;Hellborg et al 2002;Johnson et al 2003). For this reason studies that incorporate both biparentally inherited nuclear microsatellites and maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are becoming increasingly important in describing population delineations of highly vagile species that have different male and female life histories (Chappell et al 2004;Tomasik and Cook 2005).…”