Micro-evolutionary Effects of Sea-ice Conditions in the Ringed Seal, Phoca hispida

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT Palsboll OPP-0240992 Sea ice constitutes a dominant, but highly dynamic physical feature of marine Polar environments and significantly affects the distribution of most species. Much attention has been placed on correlating species distribution with annual ice conditions, but no study has focused on the micro-evolution of marine fauna as a function of annual ice conditions. This study will test the hypothesis that annual sea ice conditions significantly affects the micro-evolution of Polar marine fauna by use of high-resolution population genetic analysis of Greenland ringed seals (Phoca hispida). In total 96 nuclear SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) genotypes, in addition to the nucleotide sequence at the maternally inherited mitochondrial control region, will bedetermined in 1,054 ringed seals samples collected in highly different annual sea ice regimes around Greenland and Svalbard. Intellectual merits: The study will focus on the connection between the effects of a dynamic key physical feature of the Polar environment and the micro-evolution of Polar fauna. The analyses will estimate the relative effects of commonly occurring differences in annual sea ice dynamics, Knowledge of the micro-evolutionary effects of sea ice conditions in Polar fauna will add to the foundation of our assessment and predictive abilities of the long-term effects of climate changes in Polar Regions. The ringed seal is centrally placed in the Arctic food web, so any processes that affect them cannot be viewed in isolation but will likely extend to other species to which the ringed seal is trophically linked. The high-resolution genetic approach taken is novel aimed at natural populations in a non-model species. Broader impacts: The results will have direct relevance in terms of formulating management policies for ringed seals and those species that are part of the same food web. Ringed seals are harvested for local subsistence in the Arctic and understanding the processes that limit or facilitates dispersal is central in defining biological sound management policies. The study enhances includes an international collaboration between a U.S. education and research institution and a Danish non-educational research institution. The project involves education and training of a doctoral student and postdoctoral researcher in state-of-the-art genetic analyses of natural populations The results will be published in scientific journals and the data will be made available upon request. All mitochondrial DNA haplotype sequenceswill be deposited in the public sequence databases (e.g., GenBank).