Unraveling the mystery of the glacier bear: Genetic population structure of black bears (Ursus americanus) within the range of a rare pelage type

Genotypes (21 microsatellite loci) of 284 black bears (Ursus americanus) from northern Southeast Alaska USA and western Canada derived from tissue samples of harvested and research animals and non-invasively collected hair samples.
Glacier bears are a rare grey color morph of American black bear (Ursus americanus) found only in northern Southeast Alaska and a small portion of western Canada. We examine contemporary genetic population structure of black bears within the geographic extent of glacier bears and explore how this structure relates to pelage color and landscape features of a recently glaciated and highly fragmented landscape. We used existing radiocollar data to quantify black bear home-range size within the geographic range of glacier bears. The mean home-range size of female black bears in the study area was 13 km2 (n = 11), whereas the home range of a single male was 86.9 km2. We genotyped 284 bears using 21 microsatellites extracted from noninvasively collected hair as wel..., From 2002–2014, we collected black bear tissue samples from harvested bears and bears captured for research purposes, as well as non-invasive hair samples from rub trees, hair snares, and scented hair traps from multiple research projects in 12 sampling regions.
Wildlife Genetics International (Nelson BC, Canada) extracted DNA with Qiagen’s DNeasy tissue kits (Qiagen, Toronto Canada) and amplified and genotyped DNA as described in Paetkau et al. (1998). Sequence-based analysis of a portion of the 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene was used to confirm species (Johnson and O’Brien 1996). Individual black bears were identified using eight highly variable microsatellite loci including G10B, G1D, G10J, G10M, G10U, Mu50, Mu59, (Taberlet et al. 1997, Paetkau et al. 1998) and sex (unpublished ZFX/ZFY primer pair designed by Wildlife Genetics International). Computerized comparisons of all pairs of unique genotypes were used to reduce genotyping errors from allelic dropout in accordance with Paetkau (2..., The data is formatted to be compatible with programs GenAlEx and Structure, # Black bear genotypes (21 loci) from SE Alaska and Canada

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.p8cz8w9m1](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.p8cz8w9m1)

## Description of the data and file structure

Wildlife Genetics International (Nelson BC) extracted DNA with Qiagen's DNeasy tissue kits (Qiagen) and amplified and genotyped DNA as described in Paetkau et al. ([1998](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.6490#ece36490-bib-0046)). Sequence-based analysis of a portion of the 16S rRNA mitochondrial gene was used to confirm species (Johnson & O'Brien, [1996](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.6490#ece36490-bib-0023); Pongracz, Paetkau, Branigan, & Richardson, [2017](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.6490#ece36490-bib-0054)). Individual black bears were identified using seven microsatellite markers selected for high relative variability in the study populations, including G10B, G1D, G10J, G10M, G10U, Mu50, Mu59, (Paetkau et al., [1998](https://onlineli...