Fine-Scale Population Structure of Blue Whale Wintering Aggregations in the Gulf of California
Population differentiation in environments without well-defined geographical barriers represents a challenge for wildlife management. Based on a comprehensive database of individual sighting records (1988–2009) of blue whales from the winter/calving Gulf of California, we assessed the fine-scale gen...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:3591444 2023-05-15T15:45:14+02:00 Fine-Scale Population Structure of Blue Whale Wintering Aggregations in the Gulf of California Costa-Urrutia, Paula Sanvito, Simona Victoria-Cota, Nelva Enríquez-Paredes, Luis Gendron, Diane 2013-03-07 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3591444 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23505485 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058315 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3591444 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23505485 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058315 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Research Article Text 2013 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058315 2013-09-04T20:50:33Z Population differentiation in environments without well-defined geographical barriers represents a challenge for wildlife management. Based on a comprehensive database of individual sighting records (1988–2009) of blue whales from the winter/calving Gulf of California, we assessed the fine-scale genetic and spatial structure of the population using individual-based approaches. Skin samples of 187 individuals were analyzed for nine microsatellite loci. A single population with no divergence among years and months and no isolation by distance (Rxy = 0.1–0.001, p>0.05) were found. We ran two Bayesian clustering methods using Structure and Geneland softwares in two different ways: 1) a general analysis including all individuals in which a single cluster was identified with both softwares; 2) a specific analysis of females only in which two main clusters (Loreto Bay and northern areas, and San Jose-La Paz Bay area) were revealed by Geneland program. This study provides information indicating that blue whales wintering in the Gulf of California are part of a single population unit and showed a fine-scale structure among females, possibly associated with their high site fidelity, particularly when attending calves. It is likely that the loss of genetic variation is minimized by male mediated gene flow, which may reduce the genetic drift effect. Opportunities for kin selection may also influence calf survival and, in consequence, have a positive impact on population demography in this small and endangered population. Text Blue whale PubMed Central (PMC) San Jose ENVELOPE(-58.067,-58.067,-63.917,-63.917) PLoS ONE 8 3 e58315 |
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English |
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Research Article |
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Research Article Costa-Urrutia, Paula Sanvito, Simona Victoria-Cota, Nelva Enríquez-Paredes, Luis Gendron, Diane Fine-Scale Population Structure of Blue Whale Wintering Aggregations in the Gulf of California |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
Population differentiation in environments without well-defined geographical barriers represents a challenge for wildlife management. Based on a comprehensive database of individual sighting records (1988–2009) of blue whales from the winter/calving Gulf of California, we assessed the fine-scale genetic and spatial structure of the population using individual-based approaches. Skin samples of 187 individuals were analyzed for nine microsatellite loci. A single population with no divergence among years and months and no isolation by distance (Rxy = 0.1–0.001, p>0.05) were found. We ran two Bayesian clustering methods using Structure and Geneland softwares in two different ways: 1) a general analysis including all individuals in which a single cluster was identified with both softwares; 2) a specific analysis of females only in which two main clusters (Loreto Bay and northern areas, and San Jose-La Paz Bay area) were revealed by Geneland program. This study provides information indicating that blue whales wintering in the Gulf of California are part of a single population unit and showed a fine-scale structure among females, possibly associated with their high site fidelity, particularly when attending calves. It is likely that the loss of genetic variation is minimized by male mediated gene flow, which may reduce the genetic drift effect. Opportunities for kin selection may also influence calf survival and, in consequence, have a positive impact on population demography in this small and endangered population. |
format |
Text |
author |
Costa-Urrutia, Paula Sanvito, Simona Victoria-Cota, Nelva Enríquez-Paredes, Luis Gendron, Diane |
author_facet |
Costa-Urrutia, Paula Sanvito, Simona Victoria-Cota, Nelva Enríquez-Paredes, Luis Gendron, Diane |
author_sort |
Costa-Urrutia, Paula |
title |
Fine-Scale Population Structure of Blue Whale Wintering Aggregations in the Gulf of California |
title_short |
Fine-Scale Population Structure of Blue Whale Wintering Aggregations in the Gulf of California |
title_full |
Fine-Scale Population Structure of Blue Whale Wintering Aggregations in the Gulf of California |
title_fullStr |
Fine-Scale Population Structure of Blue Whale Wintering Aggregations in the Gulf of California |
title_full_unstemmed |
Fine-Scale Population Structure of Blue Whale Wintering Aggregations in the Gulf of California |
title_sort |
fine-scale population structure of blue whale wintering aggregations in the gulf of california |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3591444 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23505485 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058315 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-58.067,-58.067,-63.917,-63.917) |
geographic |
San Jose |
geographic_facet |
San Jose |
genre |
Blue whale |
genre_facet |
Blue whale |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3591444 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23505485 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058315 |
op_rights |
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058315 |
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PLoS ONE |
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8 |
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3 |
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e58315 |
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