Skip Navigation


Journal of Heredity Advance Access originally published online on July 24, 2009
Journal of Heredity 2009 100(6):681-690; doi:10.1093/jhered/esp061
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
100/6/681    most recent
esp061v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Cronin, M. A.
Right arrow Articles by Amstrup, K. S.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Cronin, M. A.
Right arrow Articles by Amstrup, K. S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The American Genetic Association. 2009. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Original Articles

Genetic Variation, Relatedness, and Effective Population Size of Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus) in the southern Beaufort Sea, Alaska

Matthew A. Cronin, Steven C. Amstrup, Sandra L. Talbot, George K. Sage, and Kristin S. Amstrup

From the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 533 E. Fireweed Ave., Palmer, AK 99645 (Cronin); US Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, 4210 University Drive., Anchorage, AK 99508 (S. Amstrup, Talbot, Sage, K. Amstrup)

Address correspondence to Matthew A. Cronin at the address above, or e-mail: ffmac1{at}uaf.edu.

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are unique among bears in that they are adapted to the Arctic sea ice environment. Genetic data are useful for understanding their evolution and can contribute to management. We assessed parentage and relatedness of polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea, Alaska, with genetic data and field observations of age, sex, and mother–offspring and sibling relationships. Genotypes at 14 microsatellite DNA loci for 226 bears indicate that genetic variation is comparable to other populations of polar bears with mean number of alleles per locus of 7.9 and observed and expected heterozygosity of 0.71. The genetic data verified 60 field-identified mother–offspring pairs and identified 10 additional mother–cub pairs and 48 father–offspring pairs. The entire sample of related and unrelated bears had a mean pairwise relatedness index (rxy) of approximately zero, parent–offspring and siblings had rxy of approximately 0.5, and 5.2% of the samples had rxy values within the range expected for parent-offspring. Effective population size (Ne = 277) and the ratio of Ne to total population size (Ne/N = 0.182) were estimated from the numbers of reproducing males and females. Ne estimates with genetic methods gave variable results. Our results verify and expand field data on reproduction by females and provide new data on reproduction by males and estimates of relatedness and Ne in a polar bear population.

Key Words: polar bear • microsatellite DNA • Alaska Beaufort Sea • Ursus maritimus • parentage • relatedness • effective population size-Ne

Corresponding Editor: Dr. Warren Johnson

Received January 2, 2009
Revised May 22, 2009
Accepted July 1, 2009


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.