| 1. |
- Keighley, Xénia, et al.
(författare)
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Introduction
- 2021
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Ingår i: The Atlantic Walrus : Multidisciplinary Insights into Human-Animal Interactions - Multidisciplinary Insights into Human-Animal Interactions. - 9780128174319 - 9780128174302 ; , s. 1-6
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 2. |
- Ahlgren, Hans, 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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The Baltic grey seal : A 9000-year history of presence and absence
- 2022
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Ingår i: The Holocene. - : SAGE Publications. - 0959-6836 .- 1477-0911. ; 32:6, s. 569-577
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) has been part of the Baltic Sea fauna for more than 9000 years and has ever since been subjected to extensive human hunting, particularly during the early phases of its presence in the Baltic Sea, but also in the early 20th century. In order to study their temporal genetic structure and to investigate whether there has been a genetically continuous grey seal population in the Baltic, we generated mitochondrial control region data from skeletal remains from ancient grey seals from the archaeological sites Stora Förvar (Sweden) and Neustadt (Germany) and compared these with modern grey seal data. We found that the majority of the Mesolithic grey seals represent haplotypes that is not found in contemporary grey seals, indicating that the Baltic Sea population went extinct, likely due to human overexploitation and environmental change. We hypothesize that grey seals recolonised the Baltic Sea from the North Sea. during the Bronze Age or Iron Age, and that the contemporary Baltic grey seal population is direct descendants of this recolonisation. Our study highlights the power of biomolecular archaeology to understand the factors that shape contemporary marine diversity.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Bro-Jørgensen, Maiken Hemme, 1990-
(författare)
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Ancient genomics of Baltic seals : Insights on the past Baltic grey seal and harp seal populations
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis aims to study and describe the ancient populations of grey and harp seals in the Baltic Sea, and to present new methodological approaches for general use in ancient DNA studies.The dissertation is comprised of five studies: a review of the use of paleogenetics in studying ancient human-marine mammal interactions; a method paper investigating patterns of DNA preservation in ancient pinniped samples; a method paper presenting a genetic sex identification method for ancient pinnipeds; a population genomic study of the Baltic grey seal; and a population genomic study of the now extinct Baltic harp seal.Guidelines for ancient DNA sample selections were deduced from broad-scale statistical modelling of factors influencing DNA preservation in pinniped bones, the most significant of which included type of bone element, collagen content, and whether the bone derive from a cave context. Modern ringed seal samples with known sex were used to test an alternative pinniped sex identification method using the annotated dog genome as a reference for quantification of the relative representation of X chromosome reads. Reliable sex identification was shown to require a minimum of 5,000 total reads mapped to the reference genome. A total of 69 mitochondrial control regions were generated for Baltic grey seals, which revealed that the Mesolithic data largely represent extinct haplotypes, the main of which continued until the Early Neolithic. A population replacement prior to the early Bronze Age introduced mitochondrial variation resembling that of modern Baltic greys seals. The level of genetic differentiation between the Baltic harp seal population and the three contemporary breeding populations, suggests that the White Sea population is the most likely ancestor of the Baltic harp seal breeding population. An increase in genetic diversity, following a hiatus with no Baltic harp seals, combined with the measures of genetic differentiation from this period, further suggests that a second colonization likely occurred from the White Sea during the early Bronze Age.
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| 5. |
- Bro-Jørgensen, Maiken Hemme, et al.
(författare)
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Genomic insights on the extinct Baltic harp seal population
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The harp seal is a cold adapted seal species, which requires a suitable formation of pack ice during winter and spring to secure successfully breeding. Today harp seals live in sub-Arctic regions and the North Atlantic, but during the middle Holocene Period, a breeding population existed in the Baltic Sea. In order to investigate the genetic affinity and faith of the now extinct Baltic harp seal population we analysed contemporary and ancient mitogenomes from across the species contemporary and ancient range. Ancient mitochondrial genomes were generated for a total of 49 Baltic harp seals ranging from Late Mesolithic to the Iron Age, together with five Neolithic samples from the White Sea and two Neolithic samples from the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. The ancient data was compared to published modern harp seal data assigned to the present breeding populations around Newfoundland, the Greenland Sea and the White Sea. Surprisingly only limited phylogenetic resolution was found among the ancient and modern localities. The statistical measures for genetic differentiation, however, identified significant levels of population genetic differentiation between the Baltic harp seal population and all modern populations, which suggest an independent breeding population in the Baltic Sea. The low level of genetic differentiation to the White Sea population indicate a shared ancestry between the Baltic and White Sea. The generated Skyline plot suggest second wave of colonization after a hiatus in the Baltic Sea. Interestingly, the genetic diversity in the Baltic harp seal population was significantly higher than in any of the modern populations. However, a drastic decrease in genetic diversity is observed from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, which might be linked to effects of high hunting pressure and climatic changes towards the final extirpation of harp seals in the Baltic.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Galatius, Anders, et al.
(författare)
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Grey seal Halichoerus grypus recolonisation of the southern Baltic Sea, Danish Straits and Kattegat
- 2020
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Ingår i: Wildlife Biology. - : Wiley. - 0909-6396 .- 1903-220X. ; :4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The grey seal became locally extinct in the southern Baltic Sea, Danish Straits and Kattegat in the early 1900s after prolonged culling campaigns. Here, we combine national monitoring and anecdotal data from Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Poland to report on the grey seal's recolonisation of those areas and the initial reestablishment of breeding colonies. Grey seal occurrence has steadily increased since year 2003 as evidenced by the coordinated Baltic Sea moult censuses. At the first census in 2003, there were 146 grey seals along the southern Baltic coasts of Sweden and Denmark, ca 1% of the total Baltic Sea population count. Since 2015, this has increased to 2000–2600 grey seals, or ca 7% of the total population count. Since the local extinction, there have been sporadic breeding events in the 1940s on sea ice around Bornholm and in the 1980s and 1990s on haul-outs in Kattegat. In 2003, the first two pups in the southern Baltic Sea were recorded at Rødsand, Denmark. This is to date the only site in the southern Baltic Sea with regular annual pupping since the recolonisation. Since 2000, there have also been sporadic breeding events in Danish Kattegat, southern Sweden, Poland and Germany. At Rødsand, there have been at least 3–10 pups recorded every year since initiation of monitoring in 2011, with an increasing tendency until 2017 with 10 pups counted, which subsequently decreased to 5–6 pups annually in 2018–2020. Compared to recolonising events in the Atlantic, the numbers of pups are low. This may be caused by differences in population dynamics, recolonisation distances, habitat and mortality and effects of rehabilitation programmes. It is likely that the breeding distribution will spread throughout the southern Baltic, Danish Straits and Kattegat if appropriate protection measures of seals and haul-outs are installed.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Keighley, Xénia, et al.
(författare)
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Predicting sample success for large-scale ancient DNA studies on marine mammals
- 2021
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology Resources. - : Wiley. - 1755-098X .- 1755-0998. ; 21:4, s. 1149-1166
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In recent years, non-human ancient DNA studies have begun to focus on larger sample sizes and whole genomes, offering the potential to reveal exciting and hitherto unknown answers to ongoing biological and archaeological questions. However, one major limitation to the feasibility of such studies is the substantial financial and time investments still required during sample screening, due to uncertainty regarding successful sample selection. This study investigates the effect of a wide range of sample properties including latitude, sample age, skeletal element, collagen preservation, and context on endogenous content and DNA damage profiles for 317 ancient and historic pinnipedsamples collected from across the North Atlantic. Using generalised linear and mixed-effectmodels, we found that a range of factors affected DNA preservation within each of the species under consideration. The most important findings were that endogenous content varied significantly according to context, the type of skeletal element, the collagen content and collection year. There also appears to be an effect of the sample’s geographic origin, with samples from the Arcticgenerally showing higher endogenous content and lower damage rates. Both latitude and sample age were found to have significant relationships with damage levels, but only for walrus samples. Sex, ontogenetic age and extraction material preparation were not found to have any significantrelationship with DNA preservation. Overall, the skeletal element and sample context were found to be the most influential factors and should therefore be considered when selecting samples for large-scale ancient genome studies.
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| 10. |
- Olsen, Morten Tange, et al.
(författare)
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A simple route to single-nucleotide polymorphisms in a nonmodel species : identification and characterization of SNPs in the Artic ringed seal (Pusa hispida hispida)
- 2011
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Ingår i: Molecular Ecology Resources. - : Wiley. - 1755-098X .- 1755-0998. ; 11, s. 9-19
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have become the marker of choice in the field of human genetics, these markers are only slowly emerging in ecological, evolutionary and conservation genetic analyses of nonmodel species. This is partly because of difficulties associated with the discovery and characterization of SNP markers. Herein, we adopted a simple straightforward approach to identifying SNPs, based on screening of a random genomic library. In total, we identified 768 SNPs in the ringed seal, Pusa hispida hispida, in samples from Greenland and Svalbard. Using three seal samples, SNPs were discovered at a rate of one SNP per 402 bp, whereas re-sequencing of 96 seals increased the density to one SNP per 29 bp. Although applicable to any species of interest, the approach is especially well suited for SNP discovery in nonmodel organisms and is easily implemented in any standard genetics laboratory, circumventing the need for prior genomic data and use of next-generation sequencing facilities.
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