Abstract
The high-arctic Ivory Gull (Pagophila eburnea) has recently undergone a sharp decline in numbers, and in Canada it is listed as “Endangered” under the Species-At-Risk Act. To test for circumpolar genetic distinctiveness, we examined 264 bp of the mtDNA Control Region Domain I from 127 museum specimens collected during the breeding season from northern Canada, Greenland, and Norway, and during the non-breeding season from adjacent overwintering grounds in Canada, Greenland, and a disjunct area in Alaska adjacent to the Bering Sea. Partition of genetic variance according to various phylogeographic and breeding ground models indicates no strong population structure, except that Alaska birds are consistently differentiated from other locations, and there are significant temporal shifts in haplotype frequencies. The evidence suggests that Ivory Gulls in Canada, Greenland, and Norway are a single genetic entity, in contrast to Alaska birds, which may represent a distinctive Siberian population.
Acknowledgements
The data in this MS were collected as part of a MSc thesis submitted by S. R. to the Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, who acknowledges receipt of a graduate fellowship support from the School of Graduates Studies at Memorial University. We thank R Castilho for thorough and constructive criticism of a previous draft of this MS.
Declaration of interest
The authors declare there are no competing relationships that could influence the authors’ work. Data collection was supported by a Canadian Wildlife Service contract to SMC and IR Jones, and an NSERC Discovery Grant to S. M. C.
Supplementary material available online
Supplementary material