| 1. |
- Ameen, Carly, et al.
(författare)
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Specialized sledge dogs accompanied Inuit dispersal across the North American Arctic
- 2019
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. - : The Royal Society. - 0962-8452 .- 1471-2954. ; 286:1916
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Domestic dogs have been central to life in the North American Arctic for millennia. The ancestors of the Inuit were the first to introduce the widespread usage of dog sledge transportation technology to the Americas, but whether the Inuit adopted local Palaeo-Inuit dogs or introduced a new dog population to the region remains unknown. To test these hypotheses, we generated mitochondrial DNA and geometric morphometric data of skull and dental elements from a total of 922 North American Arctic dogs and wolves spanning over 4500 years. Our analyses revealed that dogs from Inuit sites dating from 2000 BP possess morphological and genetic signatures that distinguish them from earlier Palaeo-Inuit dogs, and identified a novel mitochondrial clade in eastern Siberia and Alaska. The genetic legacy of these Inuit dogs survives today in modern Arctic sledge dogs despite phenotypic differences between archaeological and modern Arctic dogs. Together, our data reveal that Inuit dogs derive from a secondary pre-contact migration of dogs distinct from Palaeo-Inuit dogs, and probably aided the Inuit expansion across the North American Arctic beginning around 1000 BP.
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| 2. |
- Lindqvist, Charlotte, et al.
(författare)
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The Laptev Sea walrus Odobenus rosmarus laptevi: an enigma revisited
- 2009
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Ingår i: Zoologica Scripta. - : Wiley. - 0300-3256 .- 1463-6409. ; 38:2, s. 113-127
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) is in some current systematic schemes divided into three subspecies: O. r. rosmarus in the North Atlantic, O. r. divergens in the North Pacific and O. r. laptevi in the Laptev Sea. These three subspecies have been described as differing in body size, but the taxonomic status of O. r. laptevi is disputed. The current study applies molecular and morphometric methods to assess the taxonomic status of O. r. laptevi and to analyse the systematic and phylogeographic relationships between the three purported walrus subspecies. Tusk length and tusk circumference were measured from the few skulls available of O. r. laptevi, and the obtained values were within the ranges reported for Pacific walruses. Thus, morphologically, subspecies status for O. r. laptevi is not supported according to the Amadon Mayr '75% rule'. Phylogenetic analyses and haplotype networks based on mitochondrial nucleotide sequence data of NADH dehydrogenase 1, 16S rRNA, cytochrome oxidase I and the D-loop of the control region of the historic O. r. laptevi bone material and contemporary O. r. rosmarus and O. r. divergens showed that the Laptev Sea walrus groups with individuals from the North Pacific. Thus, the mitochondrial sequence data do not support the recognition of three walrus subspecies as reciprocally monophyletic evolutionary units with independent evolutionary histories. Only O. r. rosmarus and O. r. divergens meet this criterion with the present sampling. Accordingly, we recommend that Odobenus r. laptevi be abandoned and the Laptev walrus instead be recognized as the westernmost population of the Pacific walrus, Odobenus r. divergens. However, further research is recommended to assess whether the Laptev walrus could be considered as a significant unit in terms of conservation and management, since it is unique in several ecological parameters.
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| 3. |
- Sinding, Mikkel-Holger S., et al.
(författare)
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Arctic-adapted dogs emerged at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition
- 2020
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Ingår i: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 368:6498
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although sled dogs are one of the most specialized groups of dogs, their origin and evolution has received much less attention than many other dog groups. We applied a genomic approach to investigate their spatiotemporal emergence by sequencing the genomes of 10 modern Greenland sled dogs, an similar to 9500-year-old Siberian dog associated with archaeological evidence for sled technology, and an similar to 33,000-year-old Siberian wolf. We found noteworthy genetic similarity between the ancient dog and modern sled dogs. We detected gene flow from Pleistocene Siberian wolves, but not modern American wolves, to present-day sled dogs. The results indicate that the major ancestry of modern sled dogs traces back to Siberia, where sled dog-specific haplotypes of genes that potentially relate to Arctic adaptation were established by 9500 years ago.
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| 4. |
- Sinding, Mikkel-Holger S., et al.
(författare)
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Population genomics of grey wolves and wolf-like canids in North America
- 2018
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Ingår i: PLOS Genetics. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1553-7390 .- 1553-7404. ; 14:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- North America is currently home to a number of grey wolf (Canis lupus) and wolf-like canid populations, including the coyote (Canis latrans) and the taxonomically controversial red, Eastern timber and Great Lakes wolves. We explored their population structure and regional gene flow using a dataset of 40 full genome sequences that represent the extant diversity of North American wolves and wolf-like canid populations. This included 15 new genomes (13 North American grey wolves, 1 red wolf and 1 Eastern timber/Great Lakes wolf), ranging from 0.4 to 15x coverage. In addition to providing full genome support for the previously proposed coyote-wolf admixture origin for the taxonomically controversial red, Eastern timber and Great Lakes wolves, the discriminatory power offered by our dataset suggests all North American grey wolves, including the Mexican form, are monophyletic, and thus share a common ancestor to the exclusion of all other wolves. Furthermore, we identify three distinct populations in the high arctic, one being a previously unidentified "Polar wolf" population endemic to Ellesmere Island and Greenland. Genetic diversity analyses reveal particularly high inbreeding and low heterozygosity in these Polar wolves, consistent with long-term isolation from the other North American wolves.
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