Determining causes of genetic isolation in a large carnivore (Ursus americanus) population to direct contemporary conservation measures.

ABSTRACT: The processes leading to genetic isolation influence a population's local extinction risk, and should thus be identified before conservation actions are implemented. Natural or human-induced circumstances can result in historical or contemporary barriers to gene flow and/or demographic bottlenecks. Distinguishing between these hypotheses can be achieved by comparing genetic diversity and differentiation in isolated vs. continuous neighboring populations. In Ontario, American black bears (Ursus americanus) are continuously distributed, genetically diverse, and exhibit an isolation-by-distance structuring pattern, except on the Bruce Peninsula (BP). To identify the processes that led to the genetic isolation of BP black bears, we modelled various levels of historical and contemporary migrati

SUBMITTER: Pelletier A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5325280 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature