Ecology, genetics, and conservation units despite gene flow in highly-vagile terrestrial mammals (caribou and wolves)

Conservation Units (CUs) are groups of organisms distinguishable ecologically and genetically, and defining CUs is instrumental in conserving biodiversity within species. Recently, the use of both genomics and ecological information has been advocated for delineating CUs that better reflect local adaptations – i.e. the traits that in theory allow for population viability in the long-term. However, CUs are difficult to detect in highly-vagile terrestrial mammals characterized by long-range dispersal and, potentially, high levels of gene flow (e.g. caribou and wolves). My lab’s work helped defining caribou CUs based on concordant distributions of traits of adaptive significance including behavioural (migratory, partially migratory or sedentary CUs), ecological (foraging specialization of CUs), and genetic variation at varied temporal scales. Preliminary data also highlight important morphological differences between migratory and sedentary populations. Wolf CUs could also be characterized based upon traits including behavioural (migratory vs. not), morphological (coat coloration), ecological (prey specialization), and genetic and genomic variation. Our findings also confirmed long-range dispersal (for wolves) and high levels of gene flow among populations (for both wolves and caribou). Thus, CUs are recognizable even in highly-vagile terrestrial mammals with long-range dispersal and high gene flow, and integration of genetic and ecological data allows for understanding the patterns of differentiation that could be maintained in nature.