Population structure of Eurasian Otters in Fennoscandia : through analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms

Sammanfattning

Eurasian otters are an essential species within Palearctic freshwater ecosystems. Monitoring populations through non-invasive genetics can provide helpful information advising wildlife management. An investigation of population structure within the Fennoscandian metapopulation of otters was conducted through the analysis of 63 SNP-loci each from 93 individual DNA-samples collected from Eurasian otters in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. Otters in Western Norway exhibited distinct genetic differentiation in relation to the rest of the sample group. Finnish otters showed higher genetic variation, while Swedish otters held an intermediary genetic profile between Finnish and Norwegian populations. Furthermore, otters in Eastern Norway were genetically more similar to the Swedish population than to other Norwegian otters. Possible genetic traces of reintroductions of Norwegian otters into struggling Swedish populations in the 20th century were detected. Isolation by Distance (IBD) was identified in the metapopulation.