{
  "abstract": "Population genetic theory predicts that a species’ demographic history shapes patterns of genome-wide variation. However, conservation genomic studies have disproportionately focused on small or declining species, where low genetic diversity and inbreeding are major concerns, while highly abundant species have attracted comparatively less attention. Here, we investigate the crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophaga) which, despite being one of the most numerous large mammals on Earth, remains largely uncharacterised in terms of its genomic diversity and demographic history. We assembled a high-quality crabeater seal reference genome from a combination of Illumina and PacBio HiFi reads, generating a 2.44 Gb assembly spanning 138 scaffolds with high completeness. To evaluate genomic diversity in a comparative context, we whole-genome resequenced 20 crabeater seals alongside 20 individuals each of three Antarctic phocids spanning a population size gradient: the Weddell seal (Leptopnychotes weddellii), leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) and southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina). Crabeater seals carried 61.5 million SNPs compared to 12–16 million in the other species and exhibited markedly higher nucleotide diversity and negligible genomic inbreeding. We observed an excess of rare alleles, with nearly half of all variants segregating at frequencies below 5%. Demographic reconstruction revealed persistently large effective population sizes over the past million years and sustained population expansion, paralleling inferred increases in Antarctic krill associated with sea-ice expansion during the late Pleistocene. This study provides a new genomic resource and sheds new light on the evolutionary dynamics of the world’s most abundant pinniped.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Evolutionary Population Genetics, Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University , 33501 Bielefeld ,",
    "Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec), Faculty of Biology, Bielefeld University , 33615 Bielefeld ,",
    "Alaska Fisheries Science Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , Seattle, WA ,",
    "Institute of Marine Science, University of California Santa Cruz , Santa Cruz, California ,",
    "Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Science, University of Exeter , Penryn, Cornwall ,",
    "Sharjah Marine Science Research Centre, University of Khorfakkan , UAE",
    "Department of Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington , Wilmington, North Carolina ,",
    "Department of Ecology, Montana State University , P.O. Box 173460, Bozeman, MT 59717 ,",
    "Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California , Los Angeles, California ,",
    "Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center , NOAA Fisheries, La Jolla, California ,",
    "Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz , Santa Cruz, California ,",
    "British Antarctic Survery, High Cross , Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OET ,",
    "Genomics & Transcriptomics Laboratory, Biologisch-Medizinisches Forschungszentrum, and West German Genome Center, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Universitätsstr. 1 , 40225, Düsseldorf ,",
    "Joint Institute for Individualisation in a Changing Environment (JICE), Bielefeld University and University of Münster , Bielefeld ,"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 15,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Beril Yıldız",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3714-7818"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Thomas Gelatt"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Luis A Hückstädt"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Daniel P Costa"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Michael Tift"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Jay Rotella"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Elizabeth Flesch"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Kaitlin Macdonald"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Nancy Chen",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8966-3449"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Robert Garrott"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9,
        10
      ],
      "name": "Mike E Goebel"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11
      ],
      "name": "Jaume Forcada",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2115-0150"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12
      ],
      "name": "Thorsten Wachtmeister"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        13
      ],
      "name": "David L J Vendrami"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        11,
        13
      ],
      "name": "Joseph I Hoffman"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dc9m9a8tzbbb3.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1093/g3journal/jkag294",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "dc9m9a8tzbbb3",
  "issns": [
    "2160-1836"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://academic.oup.com/g3journal/advance-article/doi/10.1093/g3journal/jkag294/9005792",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://academic.oup.com/g3journal/advance-article-pdf/doi/10.1093/g3journal/jkag294/72640264/jkag294.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-31",
  "publisher": "Oxford University Press (OUP)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dc9m9a8tzbbb3.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-31T12:21:22Z",
      "native_id": "10.1093/g3journal/jkag294",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://academic.oup.com/g3journal/advance-article/doi/10.1093/g3journal/jkag294/9005792"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "issn:2160-1836",
      "subfield": "genetics-genomics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "The crabeater seal reference genome reveals hallmarks of persistently large effective population size and sustained population expansion in the World’s most abundant pinniped",
  "title_text": "The crabeater seal reference genome reveals hallmarks of persistently large effective population size and sustained population expansion in the World’s most abundant pinniped",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-02T00:21:39Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dc9m9a8tzbbb3",
  "venue": "G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics",
  "versions": []
}