Influence of drift and admixture on population structure of American black bears (Ursus americanus) in the Central Interior Highlands,USA, 50 years after translocation |
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| Authors: | Emily E Puckett Thea V Kristensen Clay M Wilton Sara B Lyda Karen V Noyce Paula M Holahan David M Leslie Jr Jeff Beringer Jerrold L Belant Don White Jr Lori S Eggert |
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| Institution: | 1. Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, , Columbia, MO, 65211 USA;2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, , Fayetteville, AR, 72701 USA;3. Carnivore Ecology Laboratory, Forest and Wildlife Research Center, Mississippi State University, , Mississippi State, MS, 39762 USA;4. Oklahoma Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, Oklahoma State University, , Stillwater, OK, 74078 USA;5. Forest Wildlife Populations and Research Group, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, , Grand Rapids, MN, 55744 USA;6. University of Wisconsin Zoological Museum, , Madison, WI, 53706 USA;7. Oklahoma Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, U.S. Geological Survey, Oklahoma State University, , Stillwater, OK, 74078 USA;8. Missouri Department of Conservation, Resource Science Center, , Columbia, MO, 65201 USA;9. Arkansas Forest Resources Center, University of Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas‐Monticello, , Monticello, AR, 71656 USA |
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| Abstract: | Bottlenecks, founder events, and genetic drift often result in decreased genetic diversity and increased population differentiation. These events may follow abundance declines due to natural or anthropogenic perturbations, where translocations may be an effective conservation strategy to increase population size. American black bears (Ursus americanus) were nearly extirpated from the Central Interior Highlands, USA by 1920. In an effort to restore bears, 254 individuals were translocated from Minnesota, USA, and Manitoba, Canada, into the Ouachita and Ozark Mountains from 1958 to 1968. Using 15 microsatellites and mitochondrial haplotypes, we observed contemporary genetic diversity and differentiation between the source and supplemented populations. We inferred four genetic clusters: Source, Ouachitas, Ozarks, and a cluster in Missouri where no individuals were translocated. Coalescent models using approximate Bayesian computation identified an admixture model as having the highest posterior probability (0.942) over models where the translocation was unsuccessful or acted as a founder event. Nuclear genetic diversity was highest in the source (AR = 9.11) and significantly lower in the translocated populations (AR = 7.07–7.34; P = 0.004). The Missouri cluster had the lowest genetic diversity (AR = 5.48) and served as a natural experiment showing the utility of translocations to increase genetic diversity following demographic bottlenecks. Differentiation was greater between the two admixed populations than either compared to the source, suggesting that genetic drift acted strongly over the eight generations since the translocation. The Ouachitas and Missouri were previously hypothesized to be remnant lineages. We observed a pretranslocation remnant signature in Missouri but not in the Ouachitas. |
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| Keywords: | approximate Bayesian computation founder effect genetic drift reintroduction |
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