Assessment of genetic structure among eastern North Pacific gray whales on their feeding grounds
نویسندگان
چکیده
Although most eastern North Pacific (ENP) gray whales feed in the Bering, Beaufort, and Chukchi Seas during summer and fall, a small number of individuals, referred to as the Pacific Coast Feeding Group (PCFG), show intraand interseasonal fidelity to feeding areas from northern California through southeastern Alaska. We used both mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and 12 microsatellite markers to assess whether stock structure exists among feeding grounds used by ENP gray whales. Significant mtDNA differentiation was found when samples representing the PCFG (n = 71) were compared with samples (n = 103) collected from animals feeding further north (FST = 0.012, P = 0.0045). No significant nuclear differences were Corresponding author (e-mail: [email protected]).
منابع مشابه
DNA evidence for historic population size and past ecosystem impacts of gray whales.
Ecosystem restoration may require returning threatened populations of ecologically pivotal species to near their former abundances, but it is often difficult to estimate historic population size of species that have been heavily exploited. Eastern Pacific gray whales play a key ecological role in their Arctic feeding grounds and are widely thought to have returned to their prewhaling abundance....
متن کاملWhat is the PCFG? A review of available information
The majority of Eastern North Pacific gray whales migrate north in the spring to feeding grounds in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas. However, each year some smaller portion of the population spends part (or all) of the feeding season farther south, between California and the Alaskan Peninsula. A number of whales which have been catalogued in these areas have shown inter-annual fidelity t...
متن کاملMitochondrial and nuclear genetic variation across calving lagoons in Eastern North Pacific gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus).
Accurate knowledge of population structure in cetaceans is critical for preserving and managing breeding habitat, particularly when habitat is not uniformly protected. Most eastern gray whales return to their major breeding range each winter along the Pacific coast of Baja California, Mexico, concentrating in 3 major calving lagoons, but it is unknown whether genetic differences exist between l...
متن کاملGRAY WHALE (Eschrichtius robustus): Eastern North Pacific Stock STOCK DEFINITION AND GEOGRAPHIC RANGE Once common throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the gray whale became extinct in the Atlantic by the early 1700s
STOCK DEFINITION AND GEOGRAPHIC RANGE Once common throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the gray whale became extinct in the Atlantic by the early 1700s (Fraser 1970; Mead and Mitchell 1984), though one anomalous sighting occurred in the Mediterranean Sea in 2010 (Scheinin et al. 2011). Gray whales are now only found in the North Pacific. Genetic comparisons indicate there are distinct “Eastern N...
متن کاملSNP GENOTYPING AND APPLICATIONS Spermwhale population structure in the eastern and central North Pacific inferred by the use of single-nucleotide polymorphisms, microsatellites andmitochondrial DNA
We use mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) (400 bp), six microsatellites and 36 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), 20 of which were linked, to investigate population structure of spermwhales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the eastern and central North Pacific. SNP markers, reproducible across technologies and laboratories, are ideal for long-term studies of globally distributed species such as sperm wh...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
دوره شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2014