Influence of seasonal migration on geographic distribution of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes in humpback whales (original) (raw)

Nature volume 344, pages 238–240 (1990) Cite this article

Abstract

HUMPBACK whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) migrate nearly 10,000 km each year between summer feeding grounds in temperate or near-polar waters and winter breeding grounds in shallow tropical waters1. Observations of marked individuals suggest that major oceanic populations of humpback whales are divided into a number of distinct seasonal subpopulations which are not separated by obvious geographic barriers2,3. To test whether these observed patterns of distribution and migration are reflected in the genetic structure of populations, we looked for variation in the mitochondrial DNA of 84 individual humpback whales on different feeding and wintering grounds of the North Pacific and western North Atlantic oceans. On the basis of restriction-fragment analysis, we now report a marked segregation of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes among subpopulations as well as between the two oceans. We interpret this segregation to be the consequence of maternally directed fidelity to migratory destinations.

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Author notes

  1. C. S. Baker
    Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Viral Carcinogenesis, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, Maryland, 21701-1013
    C. S. Baker & S. J. O'Brien
  2. the National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20008, USA
    C. S. Baker & S. J. O'Brien
  3. Biological Carcinogenesis and Development Program, Program Resources Inc., National Cancer Institute, Frederick Cancer Research Facility, Frederick, Maryland, 21701-1013, USA
    C. S. Baker
  4. Department of Zoology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822, USA
    S. R. Palumbi
  5. Ecosystems International, Institute for Environmental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104-6068, USA
    R. H. Lambertsen
  6. Cetacean Research Unit, PO Box 159, Gloucester, Massachusetts, 01930, USA
    M. T. Weinrich
  7. Cascadia Research Collective, 218½ West Fourth Avenue, Olympia, Washington, 98501, USA
    J. Calambokidis

Authors

  1. C. S. Baker
  2. S. R. Palumbi
  3. R. H. Lambertsen
  4. M. T. Weinrich
  5. J. Calambokidis
  6. S. J. O'Brien

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Baker, C., Palumbi, S., Lambertsen, R. et al. Influence of seasonal migration on geographic distribution of mitochondrial DNA haplotypes in humpback whales.Nature 344, 238–240 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/344238a0

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