Abstract 152 – 96 SNPs later – the harmonizing and augmenting of the DNA-based brown bear transnational monitoring in northern Europe

Alexander Kopatz, Anita J. Norman, Helena Johansson, Mia Valtonen, Ilpo Kojola,
Jouni Aspi, Øystein Flagstad, Oddmund Kleven, Jonas Kindberg, Göran Spong

Brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Fennoscandia comprise two subpopulations, the Scandinavian
(Sweden, Norway) and the Karelian (Finland, northeastern Norway), with roughly 2,700 bears in
each. Isolated in the recent past, their connectivity is now restored. Concurrently, government
bodies of Finland, Norway, and Sweden have increased their transboundary monitoring and
research of brown bear. DNA-based monitoring has long been a crucial component of this work,
but the expanded population range now necessitate method alignment between the two
subpopulations. For more than a decade, the monitoring between Norway and Sweden has
been largely harmonized, but not for the Karelian subpopulation. Our primary objective was to
create an effective and flexible genetic resource that supports management, research, and law
enforcement across multiple countries. We previously tested the established Scandinavian SNP-
panel across the three countries. Results show high resolution for individual identification and
relatedness estimation in Finland, but with signs of ascertainment bias, which can affect many
types of analyses. We therefore sequenced individuals across the target range to identify
markers that provide good resolution at the individual and population level. Based on the
screening, we developed a new SNP panel, including sex chromosome markers. Here we
present lessons learned from more than a decade of DNA-based, transnational monitoring,
including challenges when expanding the range and populations assessed. For wide-ranging
species, such as the brown bear, the appropriate spatial scale for robust inferences often
traverse administrate boundaries, calling for harmonized methods and joint analyses.