How vulnerable is the Sea of Cortez fin whale population?

Previous genetic analyses have demonstrated that the fin whales in the Sea of Cortez likely are genetically (and presumably demographically) isolated from North Pacific fin whales. Consequently the Sea of Cortez fin whale population is likely more vulnerable to anthropogenic effects and habitat chan...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rivera León, Vania Elizabeth, Urban-R, Jorge, Mizroch, Sally, Ramp, Christian, Sears, Richard, Bérubé, Martine
Format: Conference Object
Language:English
Published: 2013
Subjects:
Pacific
Fin whale
North Atlantic
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11370/3b51ce2c-0d3b-4496-aeb3-3a3e3d06e732
https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/3b51ce2c-0d3b-4496-aeb3-3a3e3d06e732
Description
Summary:Previous genetic analyses have demonstrated that the fin whales in the Sea of Cortez likely are genetically (and presumably demographically) isolated from North Pacific fin whales. Consequently the Sea of Cortez fin whale population is likely more vulnerable to anthropogenic effects and habitat changes. Here we extend previous work by genetic analyses of microsatellite and mtDNA nucleotide sequences in 375 and 24 fin whale samples from the Sea of Cortez and North Pacific, respectively. We will estimate long- and short-term effective population sizes in these two populations and compare the estimates with data from the much larger North Atlantic fin whale population(s). The objective of the analysis is to assess how vulnerable the Sea of Cortez fin whale population is to random genetic effects, such as loss of adaptive potential and inbreeding.

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