Paternal phylogeographic structure of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) in northeastern Asia and the effect of male-mediated gene flow to insular populations

Abstract

Brown bears on Hokkaido and the adjacent southern Kuril Islands experienced different maternal and paternal evolutionary histories. Our results indicate that sex-biased dispersal has played a significant role in the evolutionary history of the brown bear in continental populations and in peripheral insular populations, such as on Hokkaido, the southern Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin.