Dataset Information

Population genetics of the main population of brown bears in southwest Asia.

ABSTRACT: Genetic studies of the Eurasian brown bear (Ursus arctos) have so far focused on populations from Europe and North America, although the largest distribution area of brown bears is in Asia. In this study, we reveal population genetic parameters for the brown bear population inhabiting the Grand Kaçkar Mountains (GKM) in the north east of Turkey, western Lesser Caucasus. Using both hair (N = 147) and tissue samples (N = 7) collected between 2008 and 2014, we found substantial levels of genetic variation (10 microsatellite loci). Bear samples (hair) taken from rubbing trees worked better for genotyping than those from power poles, regardless of the year collected. Genotyping also revealed that bears moved between habitat patches, despite ongoing massive habitat alterations and the creation of large water reservoirs. This population has the potential to serve as a genetic reserve for future reintroductions in the Middle East. Due to the importance of the GKM population for on-going and future conservation actions, the impacts of habitat alterations in the region ought to be minimized; e.g., by establishing green bridges or corridors over reservoirs and major roads to maintain habitat connectivity and gene flow among populations in the Lesser Caucasus.

SUBMITTER: Ambarl? H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6152452 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Population genetics of the main population of brown bears in southwest Asia.

Ambarlı Hüseyin H Mengüllüoğlu Deniz D Fickel Jörns J Förster Daniel W DW

PeerJ 20180921

Genetic studies of the Eurasian brown bear (Ursus arctos) have so far focused on populations from Europe and North America, although the largest distribution area of brown bears is in Asia. In this study, we reveal population genetic parameters for the brown bear population inhabiting the Grand Kaçkar Mountains (GKM) in the north east of Turkey, western Lesser Caucasus. Using both hair (N = 147) and tissue samples (N = 7) collected between 2008 and 2014, we found substantial ...[more]

PMID: 30258734

Similar Datasets

Project description:Most animals concentrate their movement into certain hours of the day depending on drivers such as photoperiod, ambient temperature, inter- or intraspecific competition, and predation risk. The main activity periods of many mammal species, especially in human-dominated landscapes, are commonly set at dusk, dawn, and during nighttime hours. Large carnivores, such as brown bears, often display great flexibility in diel movement patterns throughout their range, and even within populations, striking between individual differences in movement have been demonstrated. Here, we evaluated how seasonality and reproductive class affected diel movement patterns of brown bears of the Dinaric-Pindos and Carpathian bear populations in Serbia. We analyzed the movement distances and general probability of movement of 13 brown bears (8 males and 5 females) equipped with GPS collars and monitored over 1-3 years. Our analyses revealed that movement distances and probability of bear movement differed between seasons (mating versus hyperphagia) and reproductive classes. Adult males, solitary females, and subadult males showed a crepuscular movement pattern. Compared with other reproductive classes, females with offspring were moving significantly less during crepuscular hours and during the night, particularly during the mating season, suggesting temporal niche partitioning among different reproductive classes. Adult males, solitary females, and in particular subadult males traveled greater hourly distances during the mating season in May-June than the hyperphagia in July-October. Subadult males significantly decreased their movement from the mating season to hyperphagia, whereas females with offspring exhibited an opposite pattern with almost doubling their movement from the mating to hyperphagia season. Our results provide insights into how seasonality and reproductive class drive intrapopulation differences in movement distances and probability of movement in a recovering, to date little studied, brown bear population in southeastern Europe.

Project description:In human-dominated landscapes, connectivity is crucial for maintaining demographically stable mammalian populations. Here, we provide a comprehensive noninvasive genetic study for the brown bear population in the Hellenic Peninsula. We analyze its population structuring and connectivity, estimate its population size throughout its distribution, and describe its phylogeography in detail for the first time. Our results, based on 150 multilocus genotypes and on 244-bp sequences of the mtDNA control region, show the population is comprised by three highly differentiated genetic clusters, consistent with geographical populations of Pindos, Peristeri, and Rhodope. By detecting two male bears with Rhodopean ancestry in the western demes, we provide strong evidence for the ongoing genetic connectivity of the geographically fragmented eastern and western distributions, which suggests connectivity of the larger East Balkan and Pindos-Dinara populations. Total effective population size (N e) was estimated to be 199 individuals, and total combined population size (N C) was 499, with each cluster showing a relatively high level of genetic variability, suggesting that migration has been sufficient to counteract genetic erosion. The mtNDA results were congruent with the microsatellite data, and the three genetic clusters were matched predominantly with an equal number of mtDNA haplotypes that belong to the brown bear Western mitochondrial lineage (Clade 1), with two haplotypes being globally new and endemic. The detection of a fourth haplotype that belongs to the Eastern lineage (Clade 3a1) in three bears from the western distribution places the southernmost secondary contact zone between the Eastern and Western lineages in Greece and generates new hypotheses about postglacial maxima migration routes. This work indicates that the genetic composition and diversity of Europe's low-latitude fringe population are the outcome of ancient and historical events and highlight its importance for the connectivity and long-term persistence of the species in the Balkans.

Dataset Information

Population genetics of the main population of brown bears in southwest Asia.

Publications

Population genetics of the main population of brown bears in southwest Asia.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets