Application of population & landscape genomics to federally mandated recovery actions for boreal caribou

针对北方驯鹿被列入名单的问题，加拿大环境部制定了一项联邦恢复战略（2012年定稿），并确定了整个范围内51个“当地种群”的种群和分布目标。北方驯鹿对保护生物学家和政策制定者具有特殊意义，因为大约一半的“当地种群”正在减少或处于“危险”类别之一（例如“受威胁”，“濒危”或“特别关注”）。越来越多的人类引起的栖息地的干扰和损失和不断变化的捕食者-猎物动态已被确定为不同程度的林地驯鹿目前的威胁。根据《战略》概述的广泛战略和一般办法，现在要求各省和地区政府制定范围计划和行动计划，以提供关于为实现北方驯鹿恢复而将采取的措施的信息。需要说明的恢复战略的两个基本组成部分是：（1）当地人口的划分;（2）人口数量是否稳定，是增加还是减少。对于驯鹿，这代表了三种不同的生物尺度：亚种和生态型，作为推定的保护单位，或在加拿大称为指定单位（DU），以及当地种群。亚种的进化分析将用于确定进化谱系、冰川避难所的数量和范围、冰川后种群扩张的模式以及谱系之间基因渗入的地理区域。在生态类型一级，确定贫铀地位必须适用两个一般准则：独特性和重要性，这意味着适应性代表了该物种独特的进化遗产。我们进一步设想，景观的属性（即自然干扰的组成和模式）也将影响种群结构，生活史和不同进化历史的驯鹿的扩散行为。为了协助规划工作，我们建议使用非侵入性收集的DNA样本作为一个高度翔实和具有成本效益的手段，在加拿大西部，特别是萨斯喀彻温省和马尼托巴的范围内获得经验的遗传和基因组数据。

In response to the listing of boreal caribou, Environment Canada has developed a Federal Recovery Strategy (Final 2012) and identified population and distribution objectives for 51 "local populations" across the range. Boreal caribou are of special significance for conservation biologists and policy makers, because about half of the 'local populations' are putatively decreasing or are in one of the "at risk" categories (e.g. 'Threatened', 'Endangered', or 'Special Concern'). Increasing human-induced habitat disturbance and loss and changing predator-prey dynamics have been identified to different degrees as current threats for woodland caribou. Following the broad strategies and general approaches outlined in the Strategy, provincial and territorial governments are now asked to develop range plans and action plans to provide information on measures that will be taken to achieve the recovery of boreal caribou. Two fundamental components of the Recovery Strategy to be characterized are 1) the delineation of local populations, and 2) whether populations are stable, increasing or decreasing in numbers. For caribou, this represents three different biological scales: subspecies and the ecotype, as putative conservation units, or Designatable Units (DUs) as termed in Canada, and local populations. Evolutionary analysis of subspecies will be used to identify evolutionary lineages, the number and extent of glacial refugia, the post-glacial patterns of population expansion and the geographical areas of introgression between lineages. At the ecotype level, two general guidelines must be applied for establishing DU status: distinctiveness and significance, meaning adaptations representing a unique evolutionary legacy of the species. We further envision that the properties of the landscape (i.e. composition and pattern of natural disturbances) will also influence population structure, life history and dispersal behaviour of caribou with different evolutionary histories. In order to assist with the planning efforts, we propose the use of non-invasively collected DNA samples as a highly informative and cost-effective means of acquiring empirical genetic and genomic data for ranges in western Canada, specifically Saskatchewan and Manitoba.