Admixture and gene flow from Russia in the recovering Northern European brown bear (Ursus arctos).

ABSTRACT: Large carnivores were persecuted to near extinction during the last centuries, but have now recovered in some countries. It has been proposed earlier that the recovery of the Northern European brown bear is supported by migration from Russia. We tested this hypothesis by obtaining for the first time continuous sampling of the whole Finnish bear population, which is located centrally between the Russian and Scandinavian bear populations. The Finnish population is assumed to experience high gene flow from Russian Karelia. If so, no or a low degree of genetic differentiation between Finnish and Russian bears could be expected. We have genotyped bears extensively from all over Finland using 12 validated microsatellite markers and compared their genetic composition to bears from Russian Karelia

SUBMITTER: Kopatz A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4026324 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature