Data from: The genetic legacy of extreme exploitation in a polar vertebrate

Microsatellite data (39 loci) from Antarctic fur seals and Subantarctic fur seals, used in the paper: "The genetic legacy of extreme exploitation in a polar vertebrate"

Abstract

Understanding the effects of human exploitation on the genetic composition of wild populations is important for predicting species persistence and adaptive potential.  We therefore investigated the genetic legacy of large-scale commercial harvesting by reconstructing on a global scale the recent demographic history of the Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella), a species that was hunted to the brink of extinction by 18^th and 19^th century sealers.  Molecular genetic data from over 2,000 individuals, sampled from all eight major breeding colonies across the species᾿ circumpolar geographic distribution, show that at least four relict populations around Antarctica survived commercial hunting.  Coalescent simulations suggest that all of these populations experienced severe bottlenecks down to effective population sizes of around 150–200.  Nevertheless, comparably high levels of neutral genetic variability were retained as these declines are unlikely to have been strong enough to deplete allelic richness by more than around 15%.  These findings suggest that even dramatic short-term declines need not necessarily result in major losses of diversity, and explain the apparent contradiction between the high genetic diversity of this species and its extreme exploitation history.

Funding

This research was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) in
the framework of a Sonderforschungsbereich (project numbers 316099922 and 396774617–TRR 212) and the
priority programme "Antarctic Research with Comparative Investigations in Arctic Ice Areas" SPP 1158 (project
number 424119118). It was also funded by Norwegian Antarctic Research Expeditions (NARE) programme.
This work contributes to the Ecosystems project of the British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environmental Research
Council, and is part of the Polar Science for Planet Earth Programme. The Department of Environmental Affairs
provided logistical support for research at Marion Island and the Department of Science and Technology of
South Africa provided funding through the National Research Foundation (NRF). We are grateful to Caroline
Bonin, Debbie Baird-Bower and Iain Staniland together with the seal biologists working within the Marion
Island Marine Mammal Programme for sample collection and logistics. We acknowledge support for the Article
Processing Charge by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Open Access Publication Fund of Bielefeld
University.