Biology Faculty Articles

Title

Abundant Mitochondrial DNA Variation and World-Wide Population Structure in Humpback Whales

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-1993

Publication Title

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

ISSN

1091-6490

Volume

90

Issue/No.

17

First Page

8239

Last Page

8243

Abstract

Hunting during the last 200 years reduced many populations of mysticete whales to near extinction. To evaluate potential genetic bottlenecks in these exploited populations, we examined mitochondrial DNA control region sequences from 90 individual humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) representing six subpopulations in three ocean basins. Comparisons of relative nucleotide and nucleotype diversity reveal an abundance of genetic variation in all but one of the oceanic subpopulations. Phylogenetic reconstruction of nucleotypes and analysis of maternal gene flow show that current genetic variation is not due to postexploitation migration between oceans but is a relic of past population variability. Calibration of the rate of control region evolution across three families of whales suggests that existing humpback whale lineages are of ancient origin. Preservation of preexploitation variation in humpback whales may be attributed to their long life-span and overlapping generations and to an effective, though perhaps not timely, international prohibition against hunting.

ORCID ID

0000-0001-7353-8301

ResearcherID

N-1726-2015

This document is currently not available here.

Peer Reviewed

Find in your library

Share

COinS