Gene flow on ice: the role of sea ice and whaling in shaping Holarctic genetic diversity and population differentiation in bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus)

• Published in: Ecology and Evolution
• Main Authors: Elizabeth Alter, S, Rosenbaum, Howard C, Postma, Lianne D, Whitridge, Peter, Gaines, Cork, Weber, Diana, Egan, Mary G, Lindsay, Melissa, Amato, George, Dueck, Larry, Brownell, Robert L, Heide-Jørgensen, Mads-Peter, Laidre, Kristin L, Caccone, Gisella, Hancock, Brittany L
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2012
• Subjects: Original Research; Arctic; Baffin Bay; Foxe Basin; Hudson; Hudson Bay; Okhotsk; Pacific; Prince Regent Inlet; Baffin; Balaena mysticetus; Beaufort Sea; Chukchi; Davis Strait; Sea ice; Subarctic; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3501639; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23170222; https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.397

Sea ice is believed to be a major factor shaping gene flow for polar marine organisms, but it remains unclear to what extent it represents a true barrier to dispersal for arctic cetaceans. Bowhead whales are highly adapted to polar sea ice and were targeted by commercial whalers throughout Arctic an...