Low levels of genetic differentiation characterize Australian humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) populations

© 2013 Society for Marine Mammalogy. Humpback whales undertake long-distance seasonal migrations between low latitude winter breeding grounds and high latitude summer feeding grounds. We report the first in-depth population genetic study of the humpback whales that migrate to separate winter breedin...

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Main Authors: Schmitt, N., Double, M., Jarman, Simon, Gales, N., Marthick, J., Polanowski, A., Scott Baker, C., Steel, D., Jenner, K., Jenner, M., Gales, R., Paton, D., Peakall, R.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71629
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author Schmitt, N.
Double, M.
Jarman, Simon
Gales, N.
Marthick, J.
Polanowski, A.
Scott Baker, C.
Steel, D.
Jenner, K.
Jenner, M.
Gales, R.
Paton, D.
Peakall, R.
author_facet Schmitt, N.
Double, M.
Jarman, Simon
Gales, N.
Marthick, J.
Polanowski, A.
Scott Baker, C.
Steel, D.
Jenner, K.
Jenner, M.
Gales, R.
Paton, D.
Peakall, R.
author_sort Schmitt, N.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2013 Society for Marine Mammalogy. Humpback whales undertake long-distance seasonal migrations between low latitude winter breeding grounds and high latitude summer feeding grounds. We report the first in-depth population genetic study of the humpback whales that migrate to separate winter breeding grounds along the northwestern and northeastern coasts of Australia, but overlap on summer feeding grounds around Antarctica. Weak but significant differentiation between eastern and western Australia was detected across ten microsatellite loci (FST = 0.005, P = 0.001; DEST = 0.031, P = 0.001, n = 364) and mitochondrial control region sequences (FST = 0.017 and FST = 0.069, P = 0.001, n = 364). Bayesian clustering analyses using microsatellite data could not resolve any population structure unless sampling location was provided as a prior. This study supports the emerging evidence that weak genetic differentiation is characteristic among neighboring Southern Hemisphere humpback whale breeding populations. This may be a consequence of relatively high gene flow facilitated by overlapping summer feeding areas in Antarctic waters.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T10:49:02Z
publishDate 2016
publisher Wiley-Blackwell Publishing
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-716292018-12-13T09:31:54Z Low levels of genetic differentiation characterize Australian humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) populations Schmitt, N. Double, M. Jarman, Simon Gales, N. Marthick, J. Polanowski, A. Scott Baker, C. Steel, D. Jenner, K. Jenner, M. Gales, R. Paton, D. Peakall, R. © 2013 Society for Marine Mammalogy. Humpback whales undertake long-distance seasonal migrations between low latitude winter breeding grounds and high latitude summer feeding grounds. We report the first in-depth population genetic study of the humpback whales that migrate to separate winter breeding grounds along the northwestern and northeastern coasts of Australia, but overlap on summer feeding grounds around Antarctica. Weak but significant differentiation between eastern and western Australia was detected across ten microsatellite loci (FST = 0.005, P = 0.001; DEST = 0.031, P = 0.001, n = 364) and mitochondrial control region sequences (FST = 0.017 and FST = 0.069, P = 0.001, n = 364). Bayesian clustering analyses using microsatellite data could not resolve any population structure unless sampling location was provided as a prior. This study supports the emerging evidence that weak genetic differentiation is characteristic among neighboring Southern Hemisphere humpback whale breeding populations. This may be a consequence of relatively high gene flow facilitated by overlapping summer feeding areas in Antarctic waters. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71629 10.1111/mms.12045 Wiley-Blackwell Publishing restricted
spellingShingle Schmitt, N.
Double, M.
Jarman, Simon
Gales, N.
Marthick, J.
Polanowski, A.
Scott Baker, C.
Steel, D.
Jenner, K.
Jenner, M.
Gales, R.
Paton, D.
Peakall, R.
Low levels of genetic differentiation characterize Australian humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) populations
title Low levels of genetic differentiation characterize Australian humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) populations
title_full Low levels of genetic differentiation characterize Australian humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) populations
title_fullStr Low levels of genetic differentiation characterize Australian humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) populations
title_full_unstemmed Low levels of genetic differentiation characterize Australian humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) populations
title_short Low levels of genetic differentiation characterize Australian humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) populations
title_sort low levels of genetic differentiation characterize australian humpback whale (megaptera novaeangliae) populations
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/71629