Data from: Comparing microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphisms to evaluate genetic structure and diversity in wolverines (Gulo gulo) across Alaska and western Canada

The Wolverine (Gulo gulo) is a cold-adapted species of conservation
interest because it is sensitive to human development, disturbance,
exploitation, and climate warming. Wolverine populations have been studied
across much of their distributional range to evaluate patterns of genetic
diversity, genetic structure, and gene flow. Little population structure
has been detected in northwestern North America with microsatellite loci,
but low genomic diversity in wolverines may limit detection of genetic
differences in this highly vagile species. Here, we genotyped a relatively
large sample of wolverines from across Alaska (US) and adjacent Yukon
(Canada) with 12 microsatellite loci (n = 501) and 4,222 single nucleotide
polymorphisms (SNPs; n = 201) identified using restriction-site associated
DNA sequencing. We compared the relative ability of our microsatellite and
SNP datasets to evaluate population genetic structure, genetic diversity,
differentiation, and isolation by distance (IBD). We predicted that the
SNP dataset would detect a higher degree of genetic structure and provide
more significant support for IBD. We found evidence for multiple genetic
clusters, including genetic distinctiveness of wolverines in southeast
Alaska and on the Kenai Peninsula. The SNP dataset detected additional
genetic clusters which align largely with ecoregions, and the SNP dataset
showed stronger evidence of IBD, while the 2 datasets were generally
consistent in estimates of genetic diversity and differentiation among
regional groups. Our results highlight the importance of genomic methods
to assess gene flow in wolverines. Identifying population genetic
structure allows an assessment of the potential impacts of conservation
threats and is an important precursor for designing population monitoring
programs.