ABSTRACT: Although Arctic ringed seals Phoca hispida hispida are currently abundant and broadly distributed, their numbers are projected to decline substantially by the year 2100 due to climate warming. While understanding population structure could provide insight into the impact of environmental changes on this subspecies, detecting demographically important levels of exchange can be difficult in taxa with high abundance. We used a next-generation sequencing approach (DArTseq) to genotype ~5700 single nucleotide polymorphisms in 79 seals from 4 Pacific Arctic regions. Comparison of the 2 most geographically separated strata (eastern Bering vs. northeastern Chukchi-Beaufort Seas) revealed a statistically significant level of genetic differentiation (F_ST = 0.001, p = 0.005) that, while small, was 1 to 2 orders of magnitude greater than expected based on divergence estimated for similarly sized populations connected by low (1% yr^-1) dispersal. A relatively high proportion (72 to 88%) of individuals within these strata could be genetically assigned to their stratum of origin. These results indicate that demographically important structure may be present among Arctic ringed seals breeding in different areas, increasing the risk that declines in the number of seals breeding in areas most negatively affected by environmental warming could occur.

中文翻译：

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使用DArTseq基因分型对北极圈海豹中的种群结构进行重新检查

摘要：尽管北极环斑海豹（Hiphos hispida hispida）目前数量众多且分布广泛，但由于气候变暖，预计到2100年它们的数量将大大减少。虽然了解种群结构可以洞悉环境变化对该亚种的影响，但要检测人口统计学上重要的交换水平，在高丰度的分类单元中可能很困难。我们使用了下一代测序方法（DArTseq），对来自4个北极地区的79个海豹进行了约5700个单核苷酸多态性的基因分型。比较两个地理上最分开的地层（白令东部与楚科奇－博福特海东北），发现了统计学上显着的遗传分化水平（F _ST= 0.001，p = 0.005），虽然很小，但比通过低（1％yr ^-1）分散联系的相似大小的群体的估计差异要大1到2个数量级。在这些阶层中，相对较高的比例（72％至88％）的个体可以通过基因分配到其起源阶层。这些结果表明，在不同区域的北极环斑海豹繁殖中可能存在人口统计学上重要的结构，从而增加了在受环境变暖影响最严重的地区，海豹繁殖数量下降的风险。