Population genetics of the main population of brown bears in southwest Asia

Hüseyin Ambarlı; Deniz Mengüllüoğlu; Jörns Fickel; Daniel W Förster

doi:10.7717/peerj.5660

Population genetics of the main population of brown bears in southwest Asia

PeerJ. 2018 Sep 21:6:e5660. doi: 10.7717/peerj.5660. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Hüseyin Ambarlı¹, Deniz Mengüllüoğlu², Jörns Fickel^{2

3}, Daniel W Förster²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Wildlife Ecology and Management, Düzce Unviersity, Düzce, Turkey.
² Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany.
³ Institute for Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.

Abstract

Genetic studies of the Eurasian brown bear (Ursus arctos) have so far focused on populations from Europe and North America, although the largest distribution area of brown bears is in Asia. In this study, we reveal population genetic parameters for the brown bear population inhabiting the Grand Kaçkar Mountains (GKM) in the north east of Turkey, western Lesser Caucasus. Using both hair (N = 147) and tissue samples (N = 7) collected between 2008 and 2014, we found substantial levels of genetic variation (10 microsatellite loci). Bear samples (hair) taken from rubbing trees worked better for genotyping than those from power poles, regardless of the year collected. Genotyping also revealed that bears moved between habitat patches, despite ongoing massive habitat alterations and the creation of large water reservoirs. This population has the potential to serve as a genetic reserve for future reintroductions in the Middle East. Due to the importance of the GKM population for on-going and future conservation actions, the impacts of habitat alterations in the region ought to be minimized; e.g., by establishing green bridges or corridors over reservoirs and major roads to maintain habitat connectivity and gene flow among populations in the Lesser Caucasus.

Keywords: Anatolia; Conservation; Isolation; Microsatellite; Noninvasive sampling; Rubbing tree; Source population; Turkey; Ursus arctos.

Grants and funding

Field works were supported by the Nature Conservation Centre, the Artvin Regional Directory of Forestry, the Bayburt Provincial Directory of Forestry, the Department of Wildlife, and the Kaçkar Mountains Sustainable Forest Use and Conservation Project in Artvin. The laboratory costs were paid by the grant (Leibniz Association, no. SAW-2011-SGN-3). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.