Coltman D W, Stenson G, Hammill M O, Haug T, Davis C S, Fulton T L
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton AB, Canada.
Mol Ecol. 2007 Apr;16(8):1639-48. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03229.x.
Two putative populations of hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) occur in the North Atlantic. The Greenland Sea population pup and breed on the pack ice near Jan Mayen ('West Ice') while the Northwest Atlantic population is thought to pup in the Davis Strait, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (the 'Gulf'), and off southern Labrador or northeast Newfoundland (the 'Front'). We used microsatellite profiling of 300 individuals at 13 loci and mitochondrial DNA sequencing of the control region of 123 individuals to test for genetic differentiation between these four breeding herds. We found no significant genetic differences between breeding areas, nor evidence for cryptic nor higher level genetic structure in this species. The Greenland Sea breeding herd was genetically most distant from the Northwest Atlantic breeding areas; however, the differences were statistically nonsignificant. Our data therefore suggest that the world's hooded seals comprise a single panmictic genetic population.
北大西洋存在两个假定的冠海豹（Cystophora cristata）种群。格陵兰海种群在扬马延岛附近的浮冰上产仔并繁殖（“西冰区”），而西北大西洋种群则被认为在戴维斯海峡、圣劳伦斯湾（“海湾”）以及拉布拉多南部或纽芬兰东北部海域（“前部”）产仔。我们对13个基因座的300个个体进行了微卫星分析，并对123个个体的线粒体DNA控制区进行了测序，以检测这四个繁殖群体之间的遗传分化。我们发现繁殖区域之间没有显著的遗传差异，也没有证据表明该物种存在隐秘的或更高层次的遗传结构。格陵兰海繁殖群体在基因上与西北大西洋繁殖区域距离最远；然而，这些差异在统计学上并不显著。因此，我们的数据表明，全球的冠海豹构成一个单一的随机交配遗传种群。
