Geffen Eli, Waidyaratne Sitara, Dalén Love, Angerbjörn Anders, Vila Carles, Hersteinsson Pall, Fuglei Eva, White Paula A, Goltsman Michael, Kapel Christian M O, Wayne Robert K
Department of Zoology Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel.
Mol Ecol. 2007 Oct;16(20):4241-55. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03507.x. Epub 2007 Sep 14.
Unlike Oceanic islands, the islands of the Arctic Sea are not completely isolated from migration by terrestrial vertebrates. The pack ice connects many Arctic Sea islands to the mainland during winter months. The Arctic fox (Alopex lagopus), which has a circumpolar distribution, populates numerous islands in the Arctic Sea. In this study, we used genetic data from 20 different populations, spanning the entire distribution of the Arctic fox, to identify barriers to dispersal. Specifically, we considered geographical distance, occurrence of sea ice, winter temperature, ecotype, and the presence of red fox and polar bear as nonexclusive factors that influence the dispersal behaviour of individuals. Using distance-based redundancy analysis and the BIOENV procedure, we showed that occurrence of sea ice is the key predictor and explained 40-60% of the genetic distance among populations. In addition, our analysis identified the Commander and Pribilof Islands Arctic populations as genetically unique suggesting they deserve special attention from a conservation perspective.
与大洋岛屿不同，北冰洋的岛屿并未完全隔绝陆地脊椎动物的迁徙。在冬季，浮冰将许多北冰洋岛屿与大陆连接起来。北极狐（Alopex lagopus）分布于环极地地区，在北冰洋的众多岛屿上繁衍生息。在本研究中，我们使用了来自20个不同种群的基因数据，这些种群涵盖了北极狐的整个分布范围，以确定扩散的障碍。具体而言，我们考虑了地理距离、海冰的出现、冬季温度、生态型，以及赤狐和北极熊的存在，将其作为影响个体扩散行为的非排他性因素。通过基于距离的冗余分析和BIOENV程序，我们表明海冰的出现是关键预测因素，解释了种群间40%-60%的遗传距离。此外，我们的分析确定了指挥官群岛和普里比洛夫群岛的北极种群在基因上具有独特性，这表明从保护角度来看，它们值得特别关注。
