| 1. |
- Andersson, Anastasia, et al.
(författare)
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Two shades of boldness : novel object and anti-predator behavior reflect different personality dimensions in domestic rabbits
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of ethology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0289-0771 .- 1439-5444. ; 32:3, s. 123-136
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is increasingly common to quantify and describe behavioral variation in domestic and wild animals in terms of personality. Correlating behavioral traits are referred to as personality dimensions or factors and different dimensions have been reported in different species. Boldness is a well-described personality dimension in several species, although some issues remain unclear. Previous models of boldness include both novelty and risk taking, but recent studies indicate that these types of behaviors may reflect separate personality dimensions. In this study, we developed a behavioral test battery for domestic rabbits, and recorded behaviors of 61 individuals in four different situations (novel object, novel arena, social, and predator interactions). We used domestic rabbits as a model because behavioral variation in rabbits has rarely been quantified in terms of personality dimensions, although rabbit behavior is described. We also wanted to investigate behavioral variation in a Swedish rabbit breed of conservation concern - the Gotland rabbit. Factor analysis of the behavioral test measures suggested three personality dimensions: exploration, boldness, and anxiety. Novel object scores clustered in the exploration and boldness factors, whereas scores associated with predator interactions were explained by anxiety, indicating that novel object and anti-predator behavior reflect different personality dimensions in rabbits.
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| 2. |
- André, Carl, 1958, et al.
(författare)
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Detecting population structure in a high gene-flow species, Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) : direct, simultaneous evaluation of neutral vs putatively selected loci
- 2011
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Ingår i: Heredity. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-067X .- 1365-2540. ; 106:2, s. 270-280
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In many marine fish species, genetic population structure is typically weak because populations are large, evolutionarily young and have a high potential for gene flow. We tested whether genetic markers influenced by natural selection are more efficient than the presumed neutral genetic markers to detect population structure in Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus), a migratory pelagic species with large effective population sizes. We compared the spatial and temporal patterns of divergence and statistical power of three traditional genetic marker types, microsatellites, allozymes and mitochondrial DNA, with one microsatellite locus, Cpa112, previously shown to be influenced by divergent selection associated with salinity, and one locus located in the major histocompatibility complex class IIA (MHC-IIA) gene, using the same individuals across analyses. Samples were collected in 2002 and 2003 at two locations in the North Sea, one location in the Skagerrak and one location in the low-saline Baltic Sea. Levels of divergence for putatively neutral markers were generally low, with the exception of single outlier locus/sample combinations; microsatellites were the most statistically powerful markers under neutral expectations. We found no evidence of selection acting on the MHC locus. Cpa112, however, was highly divergent in the Baltic samples. Simulations addressing the statistical power for detecting population divergence showed that when using Cpa112 alone, compared with using eight presumed neutral microsatellite loci, sample sizes could be reduced by up to a tenth while still retaining high statistical power. Our results show that the loci influenced by selection can serve as powerful markers for detecting population structure in high gene-flow marine fish species.
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| 3. |
- Anrup, Roland, et al.
(författare)
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Centrala universitetsvärden hotas av bolagiseringsidén
- 2013
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Ingår i: Dagens nyheter. - 1101-2447.
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Tidskriftsartikel (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- Högskolestiftelser. Förslaget att driva svenska universitet i stiftelseform öppnar för bolagisering. Men det är ingen riktig utredning, utan en politisk pamflett utan eftertanke. Privatisering av universitet hotar både oberoendet, forskningskvaliteten och samhällsnyttan, skriver 36 forskare vid svenska högskolor och universitet.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Charlier, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Census (NC) and genetically effective (Ne) population size in a lake-resident population of brown trout Salmo trutta
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of Fish Biology. - : Wiley. - 0022-1112 .- 1095-8649. ; 79:7, s. 2074-2082
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Census (NC) and effective population size (Ne) were estimated for a lake-resident population of brown trout Salmo trutta as 576 and 63, respectively. The point estimate of the ratio of effective to census population size (Ne:NC) for this population is 0·11 with a range of 0·06–0·26, suggesting that Ne:NC ratio for lake-resident populations agree more with estimates for fishes with anadromous life histories than the small ratios observed in many marine fishes
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| 6. |
- Charlier, Johan, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic monitoring reveals temporal stability over 30 years in a small, lake-resident brown trout population
- 2012
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Ingår i: Heredity. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0018-067X .- 1365-2540. ; 109:4, s. 246-253
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Knowledge of the degree of temporal stability of population genetic structure and composition is important for understanding microevolutionary processes and addressing issues of human impact of natural populations. We know little about how representative single samples in time are to reflect population genetic constitution, and we explore the temporal genetic variability patterns over a 30-year period of annual sampling of a lake-resident brown trout (Salmo trutta) population, covering 37 consecutive cohorts and five generations. Levels of variation remain largely stable over this period, with no indication of substructuring within the lake. We detect genetic drift, however, and the genetically effective population size (Ne) was assessed from allele-frequency shifts between consecutive cohorts using an unbiased estimator that accounts for the effect of overlapping generation. The overall mean Ne is estimated as 74. We find indications that Ne varies over time, but there is no obvious temporal trend. We also estimated Ne using a one-sample approach based on linkage disequilibrium (LD) that does not account for the effect of overlapping generations. Combining one-sample estimates for all years gives an Ne estimate of 76. This similarity between estimates may be coincidental or reflecting a general robustness of the LD approach to violations of the discrete generations assumption. In contrast to the observed genetic stability, body size and catch per effort have increased over the study period. Estimates of annual effective number of breeders (Nb) correlated with catch per effort, suggesting that genetic monitoring can be used for detecting fluctuations in abundance.
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| 7. |
- Charlier, Johan, 1977-
(författare)
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Monitoring gene level biodiversity - aspects and considerations in the context of conservation
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The objectives of this thesis relate to questions needed to be addressed in the context of genetic monitoring for implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity for the gene level. Genetic monitoring is quantifying temporal changes in population genetic metrics. Specific goals of this thesis include i) synthesizing existing information relevant to genetic monitoring of Swedish species, ii) providing a genetic baseline for the Swedish moose, iii) evaluating the relative performance of nuclear versus organelle genetic markers for detecting population divergence, iv) actually monitoring the genetic composition, structure, level of variation, and effective population size (Ne) and assessing the relation between Ne and the actual number of individuals for an unexploited brown trout population. The concept of conservation genetic monitoring is defined and Swedish priority species for such monitoring are identified; they include highly exploited organisms such as moose, salmonid fishes, Norway spruce, Atlantic cod, and Atlantic herring. Results indicate that the Swedish moose might be more genetically divergent than previously anticipated and appears to be divided into at least three different subpopulations, representing a southern, a central, and a northern population. The relative efficiency of nuclear and organelle markers depends on the relationship between the degree of genetic differentiation at the two types of markers. In turn, this relates to how far the divergence process has progressed. For the monitored brown trout population no indication of systematic change of population structure or allele frequencies was observed over 30 years. Significant genetic drift was found, though, translating into an overall Ne-estimate of ~75. The actual number of adult fish (NC) was assessed as ~600, corresponding to an Ne/NC ratio of 0.13. In spite of the relatively small effective population size monitoring did not reveal loss of genetic variation.
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| 8. |
- Hössjer, Ola, et al.
(författare)
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A new general analytical approach for modeling patterns of genetic differentiation and effective size of subdivided populations over time
- 2014
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Ingår i: Mathematical Biosciences. - : Elsevier BV. - 0025-5564 .- 1879-3134. ; 258, s. 113-133
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The main purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework for assessing effective population size and genetic divergence in situations with structured populations that consist of various numbers of more or less interconnected subpopulations. We introduce a general infinite allele model for a diploid, monoecious and subdivided population, with subpopulation sizes varying overtime, including local subpopulation extinction and recolonization, bottlenecks, cyclic census size changes or exponential growth. Exact matrix analytic formulas are derived for recursions of predicted (expected) gene identities and gene diversities, identity by descent and coalescence probabilities, and standardized variances of allele frequency change. This enables us to compute and put into a general framework a number of different types of genetically effective population sizes (N-e) including variance, inbreeding, nucleotide diversity, and eigenvalue effective size. General expressions for predictions (g(ST)) of the coefficient of gene differentiation G(ST) are also derived. We suggest that in order to adequately describe important properties of a subdivided population with respect to allele frequency change and maintenance of genetic variation over time, single values of g(ST) and N-e are not enough. Rather, the temporal dynamic patterns of these properties are important to consider. We introduce several schemes for weighting subpopulations that enable effective size and expected genetic divergence to be calculated and described as functions of time, globally for the whole population and locally for any group of subpopulations. The traditional concept of effective size is generalized to situations where genetic drift is confounded by external sources, such as immigration and mutation. Finally, we introduce a general methodology for state space reduction, which greatly decreases the computational complexity of the matrix analytic formulas.
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| 9. |
- Jackson, Jennifer A., et al.
(författare)
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Guidelines for collecting and maintaining archives for genetic monitoring
- 2012
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Ingår i: Conservation Genetics Resources. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1877-7252 .- 1877-7260. ; 4:2, s. 527-536
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Rapid advances in molecular genetic techniques and the statistical analysis of genetic data have revolutionized the way that populations of animals, plants and microorganisms can be monitored. Genetic monitoring is the practice of using molecular genetic markers to track changes in the abundance, diversity or distribution of populations, species or ecosystems over time, and to follow adaptive and non-adaptive genetic responses to changing external conditions. In recent years, genetic monitoring has become a valuable tool in conservation management of biological diversity and ecological analysis, helping to illuminate and define cryptic and poorly understood species and populations. Many of the detected biodiversity declines, changes in distribution and hybridization events have helped to drive changes in policy and management. Because a time series of samples is necessary to detect trends of change in genetic diversity and species composition, archiving is a critical component of genetic monitoring. Here we discuss the collection, development, maintenance, and use of archives for genetic monitoring. This includes an overview of the genetic markers that facilitate effective monitoring, describes how tissue and DNA can be stored, and provides guidelines for proper practice.
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| 10. |
- Jansson, Mija, 1979-
(författare)
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Assessing inbreeding and loss of genetic variation in canids, domestic dog (Canis familiaris) and wolf (Canis lupus), using pedigree data
- 2014
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Genetic variation is necessary to maintain the ability of wild and domestic populations to genetically adapt to changed selective pressures. When relationships among individuals are known, conservation genetic management can be based on statistical pedigree analysis. Such approaches have traditionally focused on wild animal conservation breeding in captivity. In this thesis, I apply pedigree-based techniques to domestic and wild animal populations, focusing on two canids – the domestic dog and the wild wolf.Main objectives include to 1) develop a means for making any pedigree fit the input requirements of the software Population Management x (PMx) and to use this program to 2) investigate rate of inbreeding and loss of genetic variation in dog breeds, including possible correlations between recent inbreeding and health problems, 3) estimate effects on inbreeding of the 2010 hunt of the endangered Swedish wolf population, and to 4) evaluate the potential to genetically support this wolf population through cross-fostering releases of zoo bred pups from a conservation breeding program.Results include successfully developing the converter program mPed (Paper I) and applying both mPed and PMx to dog and wolf pedigrees. I found extensive loss of genetic variation and moderate rates of recent inbreeding in 26 dog breeds, but no major difference in these parameters between breeds classified as “healthy” vs. “unhealthy“ (Paper II). I found average inbreeding coefficients to more than double (from F=0.03 to 0.07) and founder genetic variation to decrease by c. 30 percent over the past few decades in traditional Swedish dog breeds identified as being of conservation concern (Paper IV). Hunting will make it less likely to reach genetically based Favourable Conservation Status criteria for the Swedish wild wolf population (Paper III), but release of zoo bred wolves through cross-fostering may potentially almost double founder genetic variation of this population (Paper V).
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