Low but highly geographically structured genomic diversity of East Asian Eurasian otters and its conservation implications.

ABSTRACT: Populations of Eurasian otters Lutra lutra, one of the most widely distributed apex predators in Eurasia, have been depleted mainly since the 1950s. However, a lack of information about their genomic diversity and how they are organized geographically in East Asia severely impedes our ability to monitor and conserve them in particular management units. Here, we re-sequenced and analyzed 20 otter genomes spanning continental East Asia, including a population at Kinmen, a small island off the Fujian coast, China. The otters form three genetic clusters (one of L. l. lutra in the north and two of L. l. chinensis in the south), which have diverged in the Holocene. These three clusters should be recognized as three conservation management units to monitor and manage independ

SUBMITTER: Li SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10824276 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature