The challenges of detecting subtle population structure and its importance for the conservation of emperor penguins

Understanding the boundaries of breeding populations is of great importance for conservation efforts and estimates of extinction risk for threatened species. However, determining these boundaries can be difficult when population structure is subtle. Emperor penguins are highly reliant on sea ice, and some populations may be in jeopardy as climate change alters sea-ice extent and quality. An understanding of emperor penguin population structure is therefore urgently needed. Two previous studies have differed in their conclusions, particularly whether the Ross Sea, a major stronghold for the species, is isolated or not. We assessed emperor penguin population structure using 4,596 genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), characterized in 110 individuals (10–16 per colony) from eight colonies around Antarctica. In contrast to a previous conclusion that emperor penguins are panmictic around the entire continent, we find that emperor penguins comprise at least four metapopulations,...

明确繁殖种群的边界，对于濒危物种的保护工作及灭绝风险评估具有重要意义。然而，当种群结构较为隐蔽细微时，界定此类边界往往颇具难度。帝企鹅（Emperor penguin）高度依赖海冰，随着气候变化改变海冰的分布范围与质量，部分种群或已濒临险境。因此，亟需厘清帝企鹅的种群结构特征。此前两项相关研究的结论存在分歧，尤以该物种的核心栖息地罗斯海是否存在种群隔离这一问题为甚。本研究针对南极周边8个繁殖群落的110只个体（每个群落取样10至16只），利用4596个全基因组范围的单核苷酸多态性（SNPs）标记，对帝企鹅的种群结构进行了评估。与此前“帝企鹅在整个南极大陆范围内均为泛交种群”的结论相悖，本研究发现帝企鹅至少可划分为4个集合种群（metapopulations），……