Sea ice occurrence predicts genetic isolation in the Arctic fox
Authors: GEFFEN, ELI1; WAIDYARATNE, SITARA2; DALÉN, LOVE3; ANGERBJÖRN, ANDERS4; VILA, CARLES5; HERSTEINSSON, PALL6; FUGLEI, EVA7; WHITE, PAULA A.8; GOLTSMAN, MICHAEL9; KAPEL, CHRISTIAN M. O.10; WAYNE, ROBERT K.2
Source: Molecular Ecology, Volume 16, Number 20, October 2007 , pp. 4241-4255(15)
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing
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Abstract:
Unlike Oceanic islands, the islands of the Arctic Sea are not completely isolated from migration by terrestrial vertebrates. The pack ice connects many Arctic Sea islands to the mainland during winter months. The Arctic fox (Alopex lagopus), which has a circumpolar distribution, populates numerous islands in the Arctic Sea. In this study, we used genetic data from 20 different populations, spanning the entire distribution of the Arctic fox, to identify barriers to dispersal. Specifically, we considered geographical distance, occurrence of sea ice, winter temperature, ecotype, and the presence of red fox and polar bear as nonexclusive factors that influence the dispersal behaviour of individuals. Using distance-based redundancy analysis and the BIOENV procedure, we showed that occurrence of sea ice is the key predictor and explained 40-60% of the genetic distance among populations. In addition, our analysis identified the Commander and Pribilof Islands Arctic populations as genetically unique suggesting they deserve special attention from a conservation perspective.Keywords: Alopex lagopus; Commander Islands; dispersal; microsatellites; mtDNA; Pribilof Islands
Document Type: Research article
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03507.x
Affiliations: 1: Department of Zoology Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel, 2: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA, 3: Centro UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, C/Sinesio Delgado 4, Pabellón 14, 28029 Madrid, Spain, 4: Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden, 5: Department of Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18 D, S-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden, 6: Department of Biology, University of Iceland, Stugata 7, IS-108 Reykjavik, Iceland, 7: The Norwegian Polar Institute, 9296 Tromsø, Norway, 8: The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of Californ, at Berkeley, CA 94720, USA, 9: Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119899 Moscow, Russia, 10: Department of Ecology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK 1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark
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