Pujolar J M, Dalén L, Hansen M M, Madsen J
Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark.
Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden.
Mol Ecol. 2017 Nov;26(22):6270-6283. doi: 10.1111/mec.14374. Epub 2017 Nov 3.
We investigated how population changes and fluctuations in the pink-footed goose might have been affected by climatic and anthropogenic factors. First, genomic data confirmed the existence of two separate populations: western (Iceland) and eastern (Svalbard/Denmark). Second, demographic inference suggests that the species survived the last glacial period as a single ancestral population with a low population size (100-1,000 individuals) that split into the current populations at the end of the last glacial maximum with Iceland being the most plausible glacial refuge. While population changes during the last glaciation were clearly environmental, we hypothesize that more recent demographic changes are human-related: (1) the inferred population increase in the Neolithic is due to deforestation to establish new lands for agriculture, increasing available habitat for pink-footed geese, (2) the decline inferred during the Middle Ages is due to human persecution, and (3) improved protection explains the increasing demographic trends during the 20th century. Our results suggest both environmental (during glacial cycles) and anthropogenic effects (more recent) can be a threat to species survival.
我们研究了粉脚雁的种群变化和波动可能如何受到气候和人为因素的影响。首先，基因组数据证实存在两个独立的种群：西部种群（冰岛）和东部种群（斯瓦尔巴群岛/丹麦）。其次，人口统计学推断表明，该物种在上一个冰川期作为一个单一的祖先种群存活下来，种群规模较小（100 - 1000只个体），在上一个末次盛冰期结束时分裂成当前的种群，冰岛是最有可能的冰川避难所。虽然上一次冰川作用期间的种群变化显然是由环境因素导致的，但我们推测最近的人口统计学变化与人类有关：（1）新石器时代推断的种群增长是由于森林砍伐以建立新的农业用地，从而增加了粉脚雁的可用栖息地；（2）中世纪推断的种群数量下降是由于人类的迫害；（3）保护措施的改善解释了20世纪种群数量增加的趋势。我们的结果表明，环境因素（在冰川周期期间）和人为影响（最近）都可能对物种生存构成威胁。
