Genetic Structure of Harbour Seals Phoca vitulina vitulina Along the Coast of Norwegian Mainland: Implications for Management
- 1Institute of Marine Research Group of Population Genetics Bergen Norway
- 2Institute of Marine Research Group of Marine Mammals Tromsø Norway
- 3Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, Evolutionary Biology & Systematic Zoology University of Potsdam Potsdam Germany
Abstract
Alignment between biologically meaningful units and stock boundaries is one or the requirements for sustainable resource management. In Norway, harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina vitulina ) are managed at the county level and, when local populations are deemed sufficiently large to support harvesting, hunting is permitted under a quota corresponding to 5% of the counted individuals. An assessment of population structure along the entire Norwegian coastline based upon 16 microsatellites revealed significant overall differentiation ( F ST = 0.036, p < 0.001) consistent with a pattern of Isolation by Distance, in agreement with the estimated effective migration surface (EEMS). Pairwise differentiation among sampling sites challenged the current stock outline. Specifically, (a) geographically large counties (e.g., Finnmark, Nordland) could warrant subdivision into smaller management units, whereas (b) no differentiation was detected across the four south‐eastern counties (Agder, Vestfold, Telemark and Østfold). Positive and statistically significant spatial autocorrelation detected at distances of 0–300 km invoked larger genetical similarity than expected by chance and agreed with the fine‐grained population structure revealed by former tagging studies. The absence of evidence for recent bottleneck events suggests that populations remain at mutation‐drift equilibrium.
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BibTeX
@article{quintela2026genetic,
title = {{Genetic Structure of Harbour Seals Phoca vitulina vitulina Along the Coast of Norwegian Mainland: Implications for Management}},
author = {María Quintela and Anne Kirstine Frie and Roger Lille‐Langøy and Ralph Tiedemann and Kjell Tormod Nilssen},
journal = {Ecology and Evolution},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1002/ece3.74648},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.74648},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Genetic Structure of Harbour Seals Phoca vitulina vitulina Along the Coast of Norwegian Mainland: Implications for Management
AU - María Quintela
AU - Anne Kirstine Frie
AU - Roger Lille‐Langøy
AU - Ralph Tiedemann
AU - Kjell Tormod Nilssen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/07
JO - Ecology and Evolution
DO - 10.1002/ece3.74648
UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.74648
AB - Alignment between biologically meaningful units and stock boundaries is one or the requirements for sustainable resource management. In Norway, harbour seals ( Phoca vitulina vitulina ) are managed at the county level and, when local populations are deemed sufficiently large to support harvesting, hunting is permitted under a quota corresponding to 5% of the counted individuals. An assessment of population structure along the entire Norwegian coastline based upon 16 microsatellites revealed significant overall differentiation ( F ST = 0.036, p < 0.001) consistent with a pattern of Isolation by Distance, in agreement with the estimated effective migration surface (EEMS). Pairwise differentiation among sampling sites challenged the current stock outline. Specifically, (a) geographically large counties (e.g., Finnmark, Nordland) could warrant subdivision into smaller management units, whereas (b) no differentiation was detected across the four south‐eastern counties (Agder, Vestfold, Telemark and Østfold). Positive and statistically significant spatial autocorrelation detected at distances of 0–300 km invoked larger genetical similarity than expected by chance and agreed with the fine‐grained population structure revealed by former tagging studies. The absence of evidence for recent bottleneck events suggests that populations remain at mutation‐drift equilibrium.
SN - 2045-7758
SN - 2045-7758
ER -