PMID- 22804342
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20121108
LR  - 20120718
IS  - 1601-5223 (Electronic)
IS  - 0018-0661 (Linking)
VI  - 149
IP  - 3
DP  - 2012 Jun
TI  - East Greenland and Barents Sea polar bears (Ursus maritimus): adaptive variation 
      between two populations using skull morphometrics as an indicator of 
      environmental and genetic differences.
PG  - 99-107
LID - 10.1111/j.1601-5223.2012.02259.x [doi]
AB  - A morphometric study was conducted on four skull traits of 37 male and 18 female 
      adult East Greenland polar bears (Ursus maritimus) collected 1892-1968, and on 54 
      male and 44 female adult Barents Sea polar bears collected 1950-1969. The aim was 
      to compare differences in size and shape of the bear skulls using a multivariate 
      approach, characterizing the variation between the two populations using 
      morphometric traits as an indicator of environmental and genetic differences. 
      Mixture analysis testing for geographic differentiation within each population 
      revealed three clusters for Barents Sea males and three clusters for Barents Sea 
      females. East Greenland consisted of one female and one male cluster. A principal 
      component analysis (PCA) conducted on the clusters defined by the mixture 
      analysis, showed that East Greenland and Barents Sea polar bear populations 
      overlapped to a large degree, especially with regards to females. Multivariate 
      analyses of variance (MANOVA) showed no significant differences in morphometric 
      means between the two populations, but differences were detected between clusters 
      from each respective geographic locality. To estimate the importance of genetics 
      and environment in the morphometric differences between the bears, a PCA was 
      performed on the covariance matrix derived from the skull measurements. Skull 
      trait size (PC1) explained approx. 80% of the morphometric variation, whereas 
      shape (PC2) defined approx. 15%, indicating some genetic differentiation. Hence, 
      both environmental and genetic factors seem to have contributed to the observed 
      skull differences between the two populations. Overall, results indicate that 
      many Barents Sea polar bears are morphometrically similar to the East Greenland 
      ones, suggesting an exchange of individuals between the two populations. 
      Furthermore, a subpopulation structure in the Barents Sea population was also 
      indicated from the present analyses, which should be considered with regards to 
      future management decisions.
CI  - (c) 2012 The Authors.
FAU - Pertoldi, Cino
AU  - Pertoldi C
AD  - Genetics and Ecology, Department of Biological Sciences, Aarhus University, 
      Aarhus, Denmark.
FAU - Sonne, Christian
AU  - Sonne C
FAU - Wiig, Oystein
AU  - Wiig O
FAU - Baagoe, Hans J
AU  - Baagoe HJ
FAU - Loeschcke, Volker
AU  - Loeschcke V
FAU - Bechshoft, Thea Ostergaard
AU  - Bechshoft TO
LA  - eng
PT  - Comparative Study
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20120621
PL  - England
TA  - Hereditas
JT  - Hereditas
JID - 0374654
SB  - IM
MH  - *Adaptation, Physiological
MH  - Animals
MH  - Cluster Analysis
MH  - *Environment
MH  - Female
MH  - Genetics, Population
MH  - Greenland
MH  - Male
MH  - Multivariate Analysis
MH  - Population Density
MH  - Principal Component Analysis
MH  - Skull/*anatomy & histology/physiology
MH  - Ursidae/anatomy & histology/classification/*genetics/physiology
EDAT- 2012/07/19 06:00
MHDA- 2012/11/09 06:00
CRDT- 2012/07/19 06:00
PHST- 2012/07/19 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2012/07/19 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2012/11/09 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1111/j.1601-5223.2012.02259.x [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Hereditas. 2012 Jun;149(3):99-107. doi: 10.1111/j.1601-5223.2012.02259.x. Epub 
      2012 Jun 21.