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Research Document - 2006/051

Molecular genetic support of a single population of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) in Eastern Canadian Arctic and Western Greenland waters

By Postma, L.D., L.P. Dueck, M.P. Heide-Jørgensen, and S.E. Cosens

Abstract

Molecular genetic relationships among bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) were examined and tested for population sub-structuring of samples collected in the waters of the Eastern Canadian Arctic and Western Greenland. An analysis of 15 nuclear DNA microsatellite loci was completed for 286 individual bowheads sampled at Pelly Bay, Igloolik, Repulse Bay and Pangnirtung in Nunavut, Canada and from Disko Bay in Western Greenland. An additional sample of whales from the Beaufort Sea representing the putative Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort (B-C-B) Sea stock/population was also included in the analysis. A Bayesian clustering (assignment) procedure was used to interpret the genetic profiles obtained from the samples in order to identify the inferred population structure detected from the observed genotypes. The analysis consistently revealed a lack of identifiable structure for these samples and the clustering analysis supports the results obtained from satellite tracking and aerial survey studies that indicate a single population of bowheads in the Eastern Canadian Arctic and Western Greenland. However, the small sample of whales from the Beaufort Sea was not clearly distinguished from the other samples in the analysis. Additional collaborative work is currently ongoing to increase the number of samples from the B-C-B population for comparison to the Eastern Canadian samples and to increase the number of loci examined in order to increase the power of the analysis.

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