"For many endangered species, habitat fragmentation has resulted in small isolated populations with low genetic diversity and compromised adaptive potential"................."The most recent research regarding the last remaing eastern wolves, which are found in fragmented habitat patches across central Ontario, Canada show that they are genetically distinct due to the presence of alleles private to eastern wolves and carry a unique genetic composition of regional coyote and gray wolf alleles"............... "Dense sampling surrounding the protected areas where these wolves are found(Algonquin and Queen Elizabeth Wildlands Provincial Parks) revealed a decreasing occurrence of eastern wolf genetic assignments with increasing distance(away) from these provincial parks"................."With few genetically identifiable eastern wolves found outside of provincial park boundaries, researchers detected signatures of interbreeding with coyotes or gray wolves"................"Adjacent to APP, were found admixtures with coyotes in the south, and with gray wolves in the north"............... "Also detected were eastern wolf alleles in admixed coyotes along the eastern Frontenac Axis as well as In admixed gray wolf populations northwest of the Provincial Parks and in canids of unknown taxonomy geographically intermediate of the Parks"............... "Collectively, the researchers analyes reveals that eastern wolves are a geographically isolated yet distinct collection of genotypes, representing a unique genomic composition with their own ancestry not seen in other North American wolf populations, and are mostly restricted to small fragmented patches of protected habitat in central Ontario"............ "As such, eastern wolves should be considered a priority for conservation"

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https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/9/12/606/htm

Population Genomic Analysis of North American Eastern Wolves (Canis lycaon) Supports Their Conservation Priority Status

Received: 15 October 2018

Elizabeth Heppenheimer 1,†

,Ryan J. Harrigan 2,†

,Linda Y. Rutledge 1,3

,Klaus-Peter Koepfli 4,5

,Alexandra L. DeCandia 1

,Kristin E. Brzeski 1,6

,John F. Benson 7

,Tyler Wheeldon 8,9

,Brent R. Patterson 8,9

,Roland Kays 10

,Paul A. Hohenlohe 11

 andBridgett M. von Holdt 1,* 

 Map of the Great Lakes and central Ontario regions of North America with sample locations of the Canis species (site number indicated in symbol) for 30 eastern wolves, 96 gray wolves, 127 coyotes, and 51 unknown canids. Eastern wolf site 1 is Algonquin Provincial Park (gray shaded region); eastern wolf site 2 is Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Park

Abstract

The threatened eastern wolf is found predominantly in protected areas of central Ontario and has an evolutionary history obscured by interbreeding with coyotes and gray wolves, which challenges its conservation status and subsequent management.

 Here, we used a population genomics approach to uncover spatial patterns of variation in 281 canids in central Ontario and the Great Lakes region.

Eastern Wolf in Algonquin Provincial Park

This represents the first genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) dataset with substantial sample sizes of representative populations. Although they comprise their own genetic cluster, we found evidence of eastern wolf dispersal outside of the boundaries of protected areas, in that the frequency of eastern wolf genetic variation decreases with increasing distance from provincial parks. 

We detected eastern wolf alleles in admixed coyotes along the northeastern regions of Lake Huron and Lake Ontario. Our analyses confirm the unique genomic composition of eastern wolves, which are mostly restricted to small fragmented patches of protected habitat in central Ontario.

 We hope this work will encourage an innovative discussion regarding a plan for managed introgression, which could conserve eastern wolf genetic material in any genome regardless of their potential mosaic ancestry composition and the habitats that promote them.