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The impact of founder events and introductions on genetic variation in the muskox Ovibos moschatus in Sweden

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Abstract

The muskox Ovibos moschatus (Zimmerman 1780) is a specialised arctic mammal with a highly fragmented circumpolar distribution, with native populations in Canada and east Greenland and introduced populations in west Greenland, Alaska, Siberia and Eurasia. In 1971, five O. moschatus individuals from an introduced population in Norway migrated to Sweden. After a peak population of 36 individuals in the mid-1980s, the Swedish population now numbers seven individuals, making it vulnerable to both demographic and genetic stochasticity (i.e. inbreeding). Here, we analyse genetic variation among native and introduced populations of O. moschatus to evaluate the genetic effect of sequential founder events in this species. Our results show that genetic variation among native and introduced O. moschatus populations do not conform entirely to the expectations from sequential founder events, most likely because of random processes associated with introduction. In the Swedish population, a calf resulting from the mating of a wild cow and a captive Greenlandic bull contributes significantly to the current genetic variation. Thus, even a single outbreeding event may, at least momentarily, increase the genetic variation and potentially prevent inbreeding depression. Our results should aid the long-term preservation of O. moschatus in Sweden and Europe.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Kris Hundertmark and two anonymous referees for suggestions that improved the manuscript. We are also grateful to Helena Königsson for technical support in the lab and the following persons for samples: Daniel Ottosson, Lars Rehnfeldt, Stefan Mörtberg, Ronny Stålfjäll, Olle Larsson, Bengt Röken, Anna Martinsson, Mats Höggren, Staffan Åkeby, Bengt Holst, Carsten Grøndahl, Helle Flaga, Hans-Ove Larsson, Peter Mortensen, Torsten Mörner, Jessica Åsbrink, Göran Frisk, Arne Söderberg, Peter J. Van Coeverden De Groot, Patricia Reynolds, Mads Forchhammer, Niels Martin Schmidt, Peter Aastrup, Katrine Raundrup, Gunnar Mylius Pedersen, Jon Arnemo, Bjørn Rangbru, Bjørnar Ytrehus, Johan Schulze, Marthe Opland and Nina Brekke Tvedt. We thank the Faculty of Forest Sciences, Swedish Agricultural University in Umeå, the County Administration Board of Jämtland and the Muskox project in Härjedalen for financial support. CGT acknowledge the Swedish Association of Hunting and Wildlife Management for research grant (Project Number: 5880/2007).

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Sample collections comply with the current law in Sweden.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-901 83, Umeå, Sweden

    Carl-Gustaf Thulin, Linda Englund, Göran Ericsson & Göran Spong

  2. Animal Nutrition and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SE-750 07, Uppsala, Sweden

    Carl-Gustaf Thulin

  3. Population Biology and Conservation Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen18D, SE-752 36, Uppsala, Sweden

    Carl-Gustaf Thulin

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  1. Carl-Gustaf Thulin
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  2. Linda Englund
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Correspondence to Carl-Gustaf Thulin.

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Communicated by: Kris Hundertmark

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Thulin, CG., Englund, L., Ericsson, G. et al. The impact of founder events and introductions on genetic variation in the muskox Ovibos moschatus in Sweden. Acta Theriol 56, 305–314 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-011-0035-z

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