Lake Saimaa, a highly labyrinthine lake in eastern Finland, provides a unique opportunity for assessing the effects of population fragmentation.
Lake Saimaa, a highly labyrinthine lake in eastern Finland, provides a unique opportunity for assessing the effects of population fragmentation. The lake hosts a population of ringed seals (Pusa hispida saimensis) that became landlocked as the land rebounded after the retreat of the continental ice sheet 10 000 years ago. Today, the Saimaa ringed seal, with some 400 individuals, is one of the world's most endangered seals.
Researchers from the University of Helsinki together with colleagues from the University of Eastern Finland and the University of Copenhagen compared over 100 genomes of Saimaa ringed seals preserved in a tissue bank.
"The Saimaa ringed seals have gone through a severe population size contraction resulting in greatly reduced genetic variation. This raises concerns about their ability to adaptively respond to ongoing climate change," Petri Auvinen and Jukka Jernvall from the University of Helsinki say.
Read more at: University of Helsinki
Photo Credit: TheOtherKev via Pixabay
