Genomic Assessment of Australian White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) Challenges Previous Evidence of Population Subdivision

IF 4.6 2区 环境科学与生态学 Q1 BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Zach S. R. Clark, Paul A. Butcher, Andrew R. Weeks, Charlie Huveneers, Madeline Toomey, Owen J. Holland, Jessica J. Fish, Craig D. H. Sherman, Dean C. Blower, Adam D. Miller
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Aim

The white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) is one of the world's largest and most recognisable marine predators but has suffered significant declines since the mid-twentieth century. Conservation efforts remain complicated by persistent knowledge gaps associated with white shark biology and ecology, including the biological connectedness of white shark populations. We re-assess patterns of population genetic structure in Australian white sharks, where two subpopulations—eastern and southern-western—are currently recognised based on previous animal tracking and genetic assessments.

Methods

Population genomic analyses are performed using tissues from ~650 individual white sharks and ~7000 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci generated through reduced genome representation sequencing. We test for evidence of genetic structure and relatedness among sharks from eastern and southern Australia and use population genetic simulations to assess the likely strength of inter-generational migration between regions.

Results

This study challenges the current paradigm of population structure in Australian white sharks, showing a lack of genetic structure between white sharks from eastern and southern Australia. These findings are further supported by population genetic simulations and kinship analyses indicating high levels of intergenerational migration and relatedness between regions. Consistent with recent reports from eastern Australia, we also detected high levels of relatedness among juvenile and subadult white sharks and estimated the overall effective population size (Ne) of Australian white sharks to be less than 500 individuals. Furthermore, we provide evidence of a potential reduction in Ne over the last two generations.

Main Conclusions

Overall, these findings highlight the need to consider this revised estimate of genetic structure when discussing the management and conservation of the species. Our results also raise concerns for the conservation of Australian white sharks highlighting risks of potential inbreeding, and reductions in population fitness and resilience. We discuss the need for further research and the importance of ongoing population monitoring.

Abstract Image

澳大利亚白鲨(Carcharodon carcharias)的基因组评估挑战了先前的种群细分证据
大白鲨(Carcharodon carcharias)是世界上最大和最容易识别的海洋掠食者之一,但自20世纪中叶以来,其数量急剧减少。由于与大白鲨生物学和生态学(包括大白鲨种群的生物联系)相关的知识差距持续存在,保护工作仍然很复杂。我们重新评估了澳大利亚白鲨的种群遗传结构模式,根据之前的动物追踪和遗传评估,目前已经识别出了东部和西部南部两个亚种群。方法利用650条大白鲨个体组织和7000个单核苷酸多态性(SNP)位点进行种群基因组分析。我们测试了来自澳大利亚东部和南部的鲨鱼的遗传结构和相关性的证据,并使用种群遗传模拟来评估地区之间代际迁移的可能强度。结果本研究挑战了目前澳大利亚白鲨种群结构的范式,表明澳大利亚东部和南部白鲨之间缺乏遗传结构。这些发现得到了种群遗传模拟和亲缘关系分析的进一步支持,表明了高水平的代际迁移和地区之间的亲缘关系。与最近来自澳大利亚东部的报告一致,我们还发现了幼鲨和亚成年白鲨之间的高度亲近性,并估计澳大利亚白鲨的总体有效种群规模(Ne)小于500只。此外,我们提供了在过去两代中Ne可能减少的证据。总的来说,这些发现强调了在讨论该物种的管理和保护时考虑这一修订后的遗传结构估计的必要性。我们的研究结果也引起了人们对澳大利亚白鲨保护的关注,突出了潜在近亲繁殖的风险,以及种群健康和适应能力的降低。我们讨论了进一步研究的必要性和持续进行人口监测的重要性。
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来源期刊
Diversity and Distributions
Diversity and Distributions 环境科学-生态学
CiteScore
8.90
自引率
4.30%
发文量
195
审稿时长
8-16 weeks
期刊介绍: Diversity and Distributions is a journal of conservation biogeography. We publish papers that deal with the application of biogeographical principles, theories, and analyses (being those concerned with the distributional dynamics of taxa and assemblages) to problems concerning the conservation of biodiversity. We no longer consider papers the sole aim of which is to describe or analyze patterns of biodiversity or to elucidate processes that generate biodiversity.
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