Male-biased dispersal leads to rapid expansion after decline: the
Hokkaido brown bear (Ursus arctos) population rebounds post-Last Glacial
Maximum.
Abstract
Sex-biased dispersal potentially underpins the genetic structural
mismatch in genetic structure between different inherited genetic
regions. However, accurately evaluating the effect of sex-biased
dispersal is challenging due to other sex-biased traits and limitations
in usable data. The brown bear (Ursus arctos) exhibits extreme
male-biased dispersal. In the Hokkaido population of Japan, three
divergent maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA lineages were
distributed separately, however the paternally inherited nonrecombining
region of the Y chromosome analysis did not confirm this distribution
pattern. To investigate how the characteristic genetic structure has
been shaped and to evaluate the influence of male-biased dispersal on
the process, we conducted a reduced-representation genome sequencing of
this population, and used published whole-genome resequencing data. The
ratio of genetic differentiation between X-chromosomes and autosomes
inferred a significant effect of male-biased dispersal both between and
within populations. We observed a slight difference within
subpopulations, which could be attributed to restricted gene flow,
mainly for female bears because of the lowlands. We estimated a
historical trend of the brown bear’s relatively suitable habitat
decreasing during the Last Glacial Maximum (ca. 21,000 years ago), which
could have caused a historical population decline followed by a recent
rapid expansion primarily driven by male bears. These results indicate
that the Hokkaido population had contracted despite the appearance of
the land bridge between Eurasia and Hokkaido Island and has expanded
rapidly while being limited by the lowlands. We emphasize the importance
of the contribution of male-biased dispersal contributing to migration
into new habitats and rapid population colonization.