Stable Isotopes Provide Insight into Population Structure and Segregation in Eastern North Atlantic Sperm Whales
In pelagic species inhabiting large oceans, genetic differentiation tends to be mild and populations devoid of structure. However, large cetaceans have provided many examples of structuring. Here we investigate whether the sperm whale, a pelagic species with large population sizes and reputedly high...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:3855748 2023-05-15T17:28:43+02:00 Stable Isotopes Provide Insight into Population Structure and Segregation in Eastern North Atlantic Sperm Whales Borrell, Asunción Velásquez Vacca, Adriana Pinela, Ana M. Kinze, Carl Lockyer, Christina H. Vighi, Morgana Aguilar, Alex 2013-12-06 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3855748 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24324782 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0082398 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3855748 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24324782 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0082398 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , 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.0082398 2013-12-15T01:42:39Z In pelagic species inhabiting large oceans, genetic differentiation tends to be mild and populations devoid of structure. However, large cetaceans have provided many examples of structuring. Here we investigate whether the sperm whale, a pelagic species with large population sizes and reputedly highly mobile, shows indication of structuring in the eastern North Atlantic, an ocean basin in which a single population is believed to occur. To do so, we examined stable isotope values in sequential growth layer groups of teeth from individuals sampled in Denmark and NW Spain. In each layer we measured oxygen- isotope ratios (δ18O) in the inorganic component (hydroxyapatite), and nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios (δ15N: δ13C) in the organic component (primarily collagenous). We found significant differences between Denmark and NW Spain in δ15N and δ18O values in the layer deposited at age 3, considered to be the one best representing the baseline of the breeding ground, in δ15N, δ13C and δ18O values in the period up to age 20, and in the ontogenetic variation of δ15N and δ18O values. These differences evidence that diet composition, use of habitat and/or migratory destinations are dissimilar between whales from the two regions and suggest that the North Atlantic population of sperm whales is more structured than traditionally accepted. Text North Atlantic Sperm whale PubMed Central (PMC) PLoS ONE 8 12 e82398 |
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Research Article Borrell, Asunción Velásquez Vacca, Adriana Pinela, Ana M. Kinze, Carl Lockyer, Christina H. Vighi, Morgana Aguilar, Alex Stable Isotopes Provide Insight into Population Structure and Segregation in Eastern North Atlantic Sperm Whales |
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Research Article |
description |
In pelagic species inhabiting large oceans, genetic differentiation tends to be mild and populations devoid of structure. However, large cetaceans have provided many examples of structuring. Here we investigate whether the sperm whale, a pelagic species with large population sizes and reputedly highly mobile, shows indication of structuring in the eastern North Atlantic, an ocean basin in which a single population is believed to occur. To do so, we examined stable isotope values in sequential growth layer groups of teeth from individuals sampled in Denmark and NW Spain. In each layer we measured oxygen- isotope ratios (δ18O) in the inorganic component (hydroxyapatite), and nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios (δ15N: δ13C) in the organic component (primarily collagenous). We found significant differences between Denmark and NW Spain in δ15N and δ18O values in the layer deposited at age 3, considered to be the one best representing the baseline of the breeding ground, in δ15N, δ13C and δ18O values in the period up to age 20, and in the ontogenetic variation of δ15N and δ18O values. These differences evidence that diet composition, use of habitat and/or migratory destinations are dissimilar between whales from the two regions and suggest that the North Atlantic population of sperm whales is more structured than traditionally accepted. |
format |
Text |
author |
Borrell, Asunción Velásquez Vacca, Adriana Pinela, Ana M. Kinze, Carl Lockyer, Christina H. Vighi, Morgana Aguilar, Alex |
author_facet |
Borrell, Asunción Velásquez Vacca, Adriana Pinela, Ana M. Kinze, Carl Lockyer, Christina H. Vighi, Morgana Aguilar, Alex |
author_sort |
Borrell, Asunción |
title |
Stable Isotopes Provide Insight into Population Structure and Segregation in Eastern North Atlantic Sperm Whales |
title_short |
Stable Isotopes Provide Insight into Population Structure and Segregation in Eastern North Atlantic Sperm Whales |
title_full |
Stable Isotopes Provide Insight into Population Structure and Segregation in Eastern North Atlantic Sperm Whales |
title_fullStr |
Stable Isotopes Provide Insight into Population Structure and Segregation in Eastern North Atlantic Sperm Whales |
title_full_unstemmed |
Stable Isotopes Provide Insight into Population Structure and Segregation in Eastern North Atlantic Sperm Whales |
title_sort |
stable isotopes provide insight into population structure and segregation in eastern north atlantic sperm whales |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3855748 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24324782 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0082398 |
genre |
North Atlantic Sperm whale |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic Sperm whale |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3855748 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24324782 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0082398 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , 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.0082398 |
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PLoS ONE |
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8 |
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12 |
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e82398 |
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