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Large‐scale migrations of brown bears in Eurasia and to North America during the Late Pleistocene
Author(s) -
Anijalg Peeter,
Ho Simon Y. W.,
Davison John,
Keis Marju,
Tammeleht Egle,
Bobowik Katalina,
Tumanov Igor L.,
Saveljev Alexander P.,
Lyapunova Elena A.,
Vorobiev Alexandr A.,
Markov Nikolai I.,
Kryukov Alexey P.,
Kojola Ilpo,
Swenson Jon E.,
Hagen Snorre B.,
Eiken Hans Geir,
Paule Ladislav,
Saarma Urmas
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of biogeography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1365-2699
pISSN - 0305-0270
DOI - 10.1111/jbi.13126
Subject(s) - beringia , pleistocene , phylogeography , geography , land bridge , ecology , holarctic , clade , phylogenetic tree , arctic , biology , evolutionary biology , biological dispersal , archaeology , demography , population , genus , biochemistry , sociology , gene
Aim Climatic changes during the Late Pleistocene had major impacts on populations of plant and animal species. Brown bears and other large mammals are likely to have experienced analogous ecological pressures and phylogeographical processes. Here, we address several unresolved issues regarding the Late Pleistocene demography of brown bears: (1) the putative locations of refugia; (2) the direction of migrations across Eurasia and into North America; and (3) parallels with the demographic histories of other wild mammals and modern humans. Location Eurasia and North America. Methods We sequenced 110 complete mitochondrial genomes from Eurasian brown bears and combined these with published sequences from 138 brown bears and 33 polar bears. We used a Bayesian approach to obtain a joint estimate of the phylogeny and evolutionary divergence times. The inferred mutation rate was compared with estimates obtained using two additional methods. Results Bayesian phylogenetic analysis identified seven clades of brown bears, with most individuals belonging to a very large Holarctic clade. Bears from the widespread clade 3a1, which has a distribution from Europe across Asia to Alaska, shared a common ancestor about 45,000 years ago. Main conclusions We suggest that the Altai‐Sayan region and Beringia were important Late Pleistocene refuge areas for brown bears and propose large‐scale migration scenarios for bears in Eurasia and to North America. We also argue that brown bears and modern humans experienced a demographic standstill in Beringia before colonizing North America.