TY - JOUR

T1 - Origin and expansion of the world’s most widespread pinniped

T2 - Range-wide population genomics of the harbour seal (Phoca vitulina)

AU - Liu, Xiaodong

AU - Schjøtt, Suzanne Rønhøj

AU - Granquist, Sandra M.

AU - Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu

AU - Dietz, Rune

AU - Teilmann, Jonas

AU - Galatius, Anders

AU - Cammen, Kristina

AU - O’Corry-Crowe, Greg

AU - Harding, Karin

AU - Härkönen, Tero

AU - Hall, Ailsa

AU - Carroll, Emma L.

AU - Kobayashi, Yumi

AU - Hammill, Mike

AU - Stenson, Garry

AU - Kirstine Frie, Anne

AU - Lydersen, Christian

AU - Kovacs, Kit M.

AU - Andersen, Liselotte W.

AU - Hoffman, Joseph I.

AU - Goodman, Simon J.

AU - Vieira, Filipe G.

AU - Heller, Rasmus

AU - Moltke, Ida

AU - Tange Olsen, Morten

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Molecular Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - The harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) is the most widely distributed pinniped, occupying a wide variety of habitats and climatic zones across the Northern Hemisphere. Intriguingly, the harbour seal is also one of the most philopatric seals, raising questions as to how it colonized its current range. To shed light on the origin, remarkable range expansion, population structure and genetic diversity of this species, we used genotyping-by-sequencing to analyse ~13,500 biallelic single nucleotide polymorphisms from 286 individuals sampled from 22 localities across the species’ range. Our results point to a Northeast Pacific origin of the harbour seal, colonization of the North Atlantic via the Canadian Arctic, and subsequent stepping-stone range expansions across the North Atlantic from North America to Europe, accompanied by a successive loss of genetic diversity. Our analyses further revealed a deep divergence between modern North Pacific and North Atlantic harbour seals, with finer-scale genetic structure at regional and local scales consistent with strong philopatry. The study provides new insights into the harbour seal's remarkable ability to colonize and adapt to a wide range of habitats. Furthermore, it has implications for current harbour seal subspecies delineations and highlights the need for international and national red lists and management plans to ensure the protection of genetically and demographically isolated populations.

AB - The harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) is the most widely distributed pinniped, occupying a wide variety of habitats and climatic zones across the Northern Hemisphere. Intriguingly, the harbour seal is also one of the most philopatric seals, raising questions as to how it colonized its current range. To shed light on the origin, remarkable range expansion, population structure and genetic diversity of this species, we used genotyping-by-sequencing to analyse ~13,500 biallelic single nucleotide polymorphisms from 286 individuals sampled from 22 localities across the species’ range. Our results point to a Northeast Pacific origin of the harbour seal, colonization of the North Atlantic via the Canadian Arctic, and subsequent stepping-stone range expansions across the North Atlantic from North America to Europe, accompanied by a successive loss of genetic diversity. Our analyses further revealed a deep divergence between modern North Pacific and North Atlantic harbour seals, with finer-scale genetic structure at regional and local scales consistent with strong philopatry. The study provides new insights into the harbour seal's remarkable ability to colonize and adapt to a wide range of habitats. Furthermore, it has implications for current harbour seal subspecies delineations and highlights the need for international and national red lists and management plans to ensure the protection of genetically and demographically isolated populations.

KW - colonization

KW - genetic diversity

KW - harbour seals

KW - origin

KW - population structure

KW - subspecies delineation

U2 - 10.1111/mec.16365

DO - 10.1111/mec.16365

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35068013

AN - SCOPUS:85124546558

VL - 31

SP - 1682

EP - 1699

JO - Molecular Ecology

JF - Molecular Ecology

SN - 0962-1083

IS - 6

ER -