Habitat‐driven population structure of bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, in the North‐ East Atlantic

• Published in: Molecular Ecology
• Main Authors: Louis, Marie, Viricel, Amélia, Lucas, Tamara, Peltier, Hélène, Alfonsi, Eric, Berrow, Simon, Brownlow, Andrew, Covelo, Pablo, Dabin, Willy, Deaville, Rob, de Stephanis, Renaud, Gally, François, Gauffier, Pauline, Penrose, Rod, Silva, Monica A., Guinet, Christophe, Simon‐Bouhet, Benoit
• Other Authors: FCT, TRACE, MAPCET, Defra and the Devolved Administrations of Scotland and Wales, du Développement Durable et de l'Energie, Conseil Général de la Manche, Science Technology and Innovation Programme of National Development, European Regional Development Funds (ERDF/FEDER), Fondation Total, Agence de l'Eau Seine-Normandie, Fonds de Dotation pour la Biodiversité, Agence des Aires Marines Protégées, Association Nationale de la Recherche et de la Technologie, Direction Régionale de l'Environnement, de l'Aménagement et du Logement, Ministère de l'Ecologie
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2014
• Subjects: North East Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mec.12653; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fmec.12653; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/mec.12653

Abstract Despite no obvious barrier to gene flow, historical environmental processes and ecological specializations can lead to genetic differentiation in highly mobile animals. Ecotypes emerged in several large mammal species as a result of niche specializations and/or social organization. In the N orth‐ W est A tlantic, two distinct bottlenose dolphin ( T ursiops truncatus ) ecotypes (i.e. ‘coastal’ and ‘pelagic’) have been identified. Here, we investigated the genetic population structure of N orth‐ E ast A tlantic ( NEA ) bottlenose dolphins on a large scale through the analysis of 381 biopsy‐sampled or stranded animals using 25 microsatellites and a 682‐bp portion of the mitochondrial control region. We shed light on the likely origin of stranded animals using a carcass drift prediction model. We showed, for the first time, that coastal and pelagic bottlenose dolphins were highly differentiated in the NEA . Finer‐scale population structure was found within the two groups. We suggest that distinct founding events followed by parallel adaptation may have occurred independently from a large A tlantic pelagic population in the two sides of the basin. Divergence could be maintained by philopatry possibly as a result of foraging specializations and social organization. As coastal environments are under increasing anthropogenic pressures, small and isolated populations might be at risk and require appropriate conservation policies to preserve their habitats. While genetics can be a powerful first step to delineate ecotypes in protected and difficult to access taxa, ecotype distinction should be further documented through diet studies and the examination of cranial skull features associated with feeding.