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COLONIZATION HISTORY OF THE BALTIC HARBOR SEALS: INTEGRATING ARCHAEOLOGICAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND GENETIC DATA
Author(s) -
Härkönen Tero,
Harding Karin C.,
Goodman Simon J.,
Johannesson Kerstin
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
marine mammal science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.723
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1748-7692
pISSN - 0824-0469
DOI - 10.1111/j.1748-7692.2005.tb01260.x
Subject(s) - phoca , population , baltic sea , colonization , geography , population bottleneck , ecology , biology , archaeology , oceanography , demography , geology , microsatellite , allele , biochemistry , sociology , gene
A bstract Detailed knowledge about the history of colonization, population dynamics and behavior greatly enhance evaluation of genetic models of population units and migration rates in spatially structured populations. Here, the genetic uniqueness of harbor seals ( Phoca vitulinia ) in the eastern Baltic is evaluated in the light of new information on the distribution and abundance of Baltic and eastern North Sea populations during the last 11,000 yr, recent hunting statistics, and population counts. Archaeological records reveal that the Baltic population of harbor seals was founded about 8,000 yr ago. Adjacent populations in the North Sea areas were either small, or went extinct, and became significant only during the last 300 yr. This information generates the hypothesis that the Baltic population has been isolated during the last 8,000 yr, despite the lack of geographical barriers. We show that stochastic effects, isolation, and a documented recent population bottleneck can account for the low observed genetic variation in Baltic harbor seals.