The use of DNA barcoding to monitor the marine mammal biodiversity along the French Atlantic coast

• Published in: ZooKeys
• Main Authors: Alfonsi, Eric, Méheust, Eleonore, Fuchs, Sandra, Carpentier, François-Gilles, Quillivic, Yann, Viricel, Amélia, Hassani, Sami, Jung, Jean-Luc
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Pensoft Publishers 2013
• Subjects: Article; Arctic; Phocoena phocoena
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3890668; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24146546; https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.365.5873

In the last ten years, 14 species of cetaceans and five species of pinnipeds stranded along the Atlantic coast of Brittany in the North West of France. All species included, an average of 150 animals strand each year in this area. Based on reports from the stranding network operating along this coast, the most common stranding events comprise six cetacean species (Delphinus delphis, Tursiops truncatus, Stenella coeruleoalba, Globicephala melas, Grampus griseus, Phocoena phocoena)and one pinniped species (Halichoerus grypus). Rare stranding events include deep-diving or exotic species, such as arctic seals. In this study, our aim was to determine the potential contribution of DNA barcoding to the monitoring of marine mammal biodiversity as performed by the stranding network.