Abstract
Within-species, biodiversity can be organized in units, ranging from subspecies to evolutionarily significant units (ESUs), populations and social groups. To define ESUs, researchers often focus on the concordant distribution of traits that exhibit likely adaptive significance, including genetic and ecological variation. Caribou is a Species at Risk in Canada, and are conserved at the level of both subspecies and designatable units (DUs), which are conceptually similar to ESUs. However, the use of genomics has been suggested to provide better delineation of units that are based upon variation of genes—not just neutral genetic markers. Here, we analyzed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for 190 caribou belonging to two recognized subspecies and four DUs found throughout western Canada. We confirmed two major genetic clusters, which we refer to as the Northern Caribou and Southern Caribou, characterized by divergence at numerous SNPs and genes with known functions in other mammals. Notably, the distribution of these two clusters did not fully overlap with currently recognized subspecies. A discrepancy with current classification was detected for Mountain DUs, which were thought to belong to the Woodland subspecies, but with significant northern-type ecological traits described in the literature, indicating more work is needed to refine our understanding of this transitional zone. We also detected genetic signals of male-biased dispersal, which may be natural or affected by habitat fragmentation effects on females. This work illustrates the value of genomics in rethinking subspecies and conservation unit designations and better conserve biodiversity within terrestrial species at risk.
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Data availability
Sequencing reads were deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), Sequence Read Archive (SRA), under Accession number PRJNA659718.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Alberta Conservation Association, Alberta Innovates, Alberta Upstream Petroleum Research Fund, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, Conoco-Phillips, Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Service, Exxon, Governments of Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories and Yukon, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Parks Canada, and Teck Resources. Research was conducted under Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Yukon, Parks Canada, and Universities of Calgary and Montana research permits.
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This work was supported by the Alberta Conservation Association, Alberta Innovates, Alberta Upstream Petroleum Research Fund, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Canada’s Oil Sands Innovation Alliance, Conoco-Phillips, Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Service, Exxon, Governments of Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories and Yukon, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Parks Canada, and Teck Resources.
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MC designed the study (with MM and BvH), conducted lab analyses (with EH), analyzed genomic data (with EH and BvH), and drafted the manuscript (with MM, AM, JLP, and JP). TH, DH, HS, and RS gathered genetic and/or biological samples. All authors critically reviewed drafts and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Cavedon, M., Poissant, J., vonHoldt, B. et al. Population structure of threatened caribou in western Canada inferred from genome-wide SNP data. Conserv Genet 23, 1089–1103 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-022-01475-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-022-01475-1