Geographic Patterns of Genetic Differentiation among Killer Whales in the Northern North Pacific
Kim M. Parsons,John W. Durban,Alexander M. Burdin,Vladimir N. Burkanov,Robert L. Pitman,Jay Barlow,Lance G. Barrett-Lennard,Richard G. LeDuc,Kelly M. Robertson,Craig O. Matkin,Paul R. Wade +10 more
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TLDR
Data is used to test a priori hypotheses about population subdivisions generated from a decade of killer whale surveys across the northern North Pacific, providing evidence of population structuring within both ecotypes and corroborating direct observations of restricted movements of individual whales.Abstract:
The difficulties associated with detecting population boundaries have long constrained the conservation and management of highly mobile, wide-ranging marine species, such as killer whales (Orcinus orca). In this study, we use data from 26 nuclear microsatellite loci and mitochondrial DNA sequences (988 bp) to test a priori hypotheses about population subdivisions generated from a decade of killer whale surveys across the northern North Pacific. A total of 462 remote skin biopsies were collected from wild killer whales primarily between 2001 and 2010 from the northern Gulf of Alaska to the Sea of Okhotsk, representing both the piscivorous “resident” and the mammal-eating “transient” (or Bigg’s) killer whales. Divergence of the 2 ecotypes was supported by both mtDNA and microsatellites. Geographic patterns of genetic differentiation were supported by significant regions of genetic discontinuity, providing evidence of population structuring within both ecotypes and corroborating direct observations of restricted movements of individual whales. In the Aleutian Islands (Alaska), subpopulations, or groups with significantly different mtDNA and microsatellite allele frequencies, were largely delimited by major oceanographic boundaries for resident killer whales. Although Amchitka Pass represented a major subdivision for transient killer whales between the central and western Aleutian Islands, several smaller subpopulations were evident throughout the eastern Aleutians and Bering Sea. Support for seasonally sympatric transient subpopulations around Unimak Island suggests isolating mechanisms other than geographic distance within this highly mobile top predator.read more
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Genome-culture coevolution promotes rapid divergence of killer whale ecotypes
Andrew D. Foote,Andrew D. Foote,Andrew D. Foote,Nagarjun Vijay,María C. Ávila-Arcos,Robin W. Baird,John W. Durban,Matteo Fumagalli,Richard A. Gibbs,M. Bradley Hanson,Thorfinn Sand Korneliussen,Michael D. Martin,Kelly M. Robertson,Vitor C. Sousa,Filipe G. Vieira,Tomas Vinar,Paul R. Wade,Kim C. Worley,Laurent Excoffier,Phillip A. Morin,M. Thomas P. Gilbert,Jochen B. W. Wolf +21 more
TL;DR: Analysis of population genomic data from killer whale ecotypes shows that genetic structuring including the segregation of potentially functional alleles is associated with socially inherited ecological niche, consistent with expansion of small founder groups into novel niches by an initial plastic behavioural response.
Journal ArticleDOI
Environmental DNA (eDNA) From the Wake of the Whales: Droplet Digital PCR for Detection and Species Identification
TL;DR: Droplet digital (dd)PCR technology for detection and species identification of cetaceans using environmental (e)DNA collected from seawater is adopted, with a focus on identification of known killer whale ecotypes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nuclear and mitochondrial patterns of population structure in North Pacific false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens)
Karen K. Martien,Susan J. Chivers,Robin W. Baird,Frederick I. Archer,Antoinette M. Gorgone,Brittany L. Hancock-Hanser,David K. Mattila,Daniel J. McSweeney,Erin M. Oleson,Carol Palmer,Victoria L. Pease,Kelly M. Robertson,Gregory S. Schorr,Mark B. Schultz,Daniel L. Webster,Barbara L. Taylor +15 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined levels of differentiation among the 2 resident island-associated populations of false killer whales and offshore animals from the central and eastern North Pacific and found that the mtDNA haplotypes exhibit a strong pattern of phylogeographic concordance, with islandassociated populations sharing 3 closely related haplotypes not found elsewhere in the Pacific.
Journal ArticleDOI
Phylogenomics of the killer whale indicates ecotype divergence in sympatry
Andre E. Moura,Andre E. Moura,John Kenny,Roy R. Chaudhuri,Roy R. Chaudhuri,Margaret Hughes,Ryan R. Reisinger,P. J. N. de Bruyn,Marilyn E. Dahlheim,Neil Hall,A. R. Hoelzel +10 more
TL;DR: Killer whales show strong specialization on prey choice in populations of stable matrifocal social groups (ecotypes), associated with genetic and phenotypic differentiation, which suggest evolution in sympatry among populations of resource specialists.
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