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Genetic Data From 1,813 South Korean Wild Boar Suggested Reduced Gene Flow Across the Geum River

Wild boar standing near a street in Kraków, Poland
Research · Genetics & genomics

Genetic data from 1,813 wild boar (Sus scrofa) collected across South Korea showed high overall diversity but a detectable regional structure. The strongest departure from the general distance-related pattern occurred between Chungcheong and Jeolla: despite their geographic proximity, the two regions were more genetically different than expected, suggesting reduced gene flow across the Geum River and the surrounding landscape. The study was published in Scientific Reports on 28 August 2026.

The animals were collected nationwide between 2019 and 2023. Researchers compared 13 microsatellite markers — short, repeated stretches of DNA that vary among individuals and can reveal how strongly populations are genetically connected.

Genetic diversity remained high across South Korea

Genetic diversity remained high across all regions, but there were moderate differences. Gangwon had the highest mean number of alleles and an observed heterozygosity of 0.70, while Jeolla had the lowest values, including heterozygosity of 0.61. Heterozygosity describes how often individuals carry two different genetic variants at the same marker, so higher values generally indicate more variation within the sampled population.

Regional genetic differences were small overall, but a consistent regional pattern could still be detected. Gyeonggi and Gangwon were largely continuous genetically, whereas Jeolla was the most differentiated region. Across South Korea as a whole, genetic differences increased with geographic distance, showing that animals from more distant regions tended to be less genetically similar.

The Geum River stood out as a partial barrier

The Chungcheong–Jeolla comparison stood out from this general pattern. Their genetic difference was comparatively large despite the regions being close together. The authors interpret this as evidence that the Geum River and associated landscape features may reduce movement and gene flow beyond what distance alone would predict. The study does not show that the river is an absolute barrier.

Clustering analyses identified two broad genetic groups, with additional subdivision at finer scales, but neighbouring regions still overlapped extensively. The regional groups therefore still shared most of their genetic variation, with only a smaller part separating one region from another. Together, the results describe a connected wild-boar population with substantial genetic diversity, overlaid by weaker regional structure and at least one landscape boundary that appears to reduce connectivity.

Sources and image credit

  1. Population genetics of wild boars across South Korea shows broad-scale distance-driven structure and a region-specific riverine barrierScientific Reports study published 28 August 2026. Researchers genotyped 1,813 wild boar collected nationwide in South Korea from 2019–2023 at 13 microsatellite loci. Genetic diversity was high overall, differentiation was low but significant, and the Chungcheong–Jeolla contrast suggested reduced connectivity associated with the Geum River and surrounding landscape.

Image: Wild boar near Basistówka Street in Kraków, Poland, photographed on 28 February 2025. Photo: Jakub Hałun. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Representative image; not an animal from the South Korean study. · CC BY 4.0 · Source

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