Retracing the Response of Rangifer to Postglacial Climate Change in Arctic Islands

Rangifer tarandus L. plays a key role in Arctic ecosystems as the most numerous and widespread large herbivore. Sea ice is vital for maintaining genetic connectivity in Arctic islands, yet the historical role of sea ice in shaping R. tarandus biogeography is unknown. We studied the role of sea ice changes and ice sheet retreat since the last glacial period in the timing of island dispersal. We compiled published datasets of mitochondrial control region sequences that informed population history scenarios, which were evaluated in a coalescent-based approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) modelling framework to test hypotheses of island (re)colonisation and to estimate divergence and admixture. Population events were compared with modelled and proxy-based paleo-sea ice cover and published ice sheet chronologies. Our analysis supports Holocene dispersal onto deglaciated Arctic islands, rather than High Arctic glacial refugia. The degree of population admixture and the effect of sea ice were dependent on regional geography and climate history. North American initial island population divergence occurred as sea ice cover was declining. A lack of strong genetic structure and the occurrence of late Holocene admixture suggest that Canadian Arctic Archipelago populations were somewhat connected by sea ice during the Holocene. The Svalbard, Franz Josef land, and West Greenland colonisations arose through long-distance dispersal. Here, divergence times occurred post-deglaciation but broadly align with subfossil-based colonisation estimates, suggesting dispersal limitation due to sea ice conditions, potentially requiring appropriate ocean currents and sea ice drift directionality and speeds. Our study sheds light on the Late Quaternary (~60 ka—present) history of Arctic island Rangifer and suggests that ice sheet retreat, sea ice, and ocean currents were important in shaping present-day genetic patterns. Regional differences in postglacial dynamics suggest that dispersal during contemporary climate change may vary regionally and depend upon diminishing connectivity provided by sea ice.