Journal
MOLECULAR ECOLOGY
Volume 23, Issue 4, Pages 857-874Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/mec.12653
Keywords
cetaceans; conservation; ecotypes; feeding specializations; philopatry; population genetics
Funding
- Defra
- Devolved Administrations of Scotland
- Devolved Administrations of Wales
- Science Technology and Innovation Programme of National Development Plan
- National Parks and Wildlife Service [C104/2011]
- Direccion Xeral de Conservacion da Natureza-Xunta de Galicia
- Regional Development Funds (ERDF/FEDER)
- FCT postdoctoral grant [SFRH/BPD/29841/2006]
- Project TRACE [PTDC/MAR/74071/2006]
- Project MAPCET [M2.1.2/F/012/2011]
- Fondation Total
- Agence de l'Eau Seine-Normandie
- Fonds de Dotation pour la Biodiversite
- Agence des Aires Marines Protegees
- Association Nationale de la Recherche et de la Technologie
- Direction Regionale de l'Environnement, de l'Amenagement et du Logement
- Ministere de l'Ecologie, du Developpement Durable et de l'Energie and Conseil General de la Manche
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [SFRH/BPD/29841/2006] Funding Source: FCT
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Despite no obvious barrier to gene flow, historical environmental processes and ecological specializations can lead to genetic differentiation in highly mobile animals. Ecotypes emerged in several large mammal species as a result of niche specializations and/or social organization. In the North-West Atlantic, two distinct bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) ecotypes (i.e. coastal' and pelagic') have been identified. Here, we investigated the genetic population structure of North-East Atlantic (NEA) bottlenose dolphins on a large scale through the analysis of 381 biopsy-sampled or stranded animals using 25 microsatellites and a 682-bp portion of the mitochondrial control region. We shed light on the likely origin of stranded animals using a carcass drift prediction model. We showed, for the first time, that coastal and pelagic bottlenose dolphins were highly differentiated in the NEA. Finer-scale population structure was found within the two groups. We suggest that distinct founding events followed by parallel adaptation may have occurred independently from a large Atlantic pelagic population in the two sides of the basin. Divergence could be maintained by philopatry possibly as a result of foraging specializations and social organization. As coastal environments are under increasing anthropogenic pressures, small and isolated populations might be at risk and require appropriate conservation policies to preserve their habitats. While genetics can be a powerful first step to delineate ecotypes in protected and difficult to access taxa, ecotype distinction should be further documented through diet studies and the examination of cranial skull features associated with feeding.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available