
SPLASH is an international cooperative effort involving researchers from the United States, Japan, Russia, Mexico, Canada, the Philippines, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua and Guatemala. The aims of the three-year project are to understand the population structure of humpback whales across the North Pacific, and to assess the status, trends in abundance and potential human impacts to this population.
From 2004 to 2006 (three winter breeding seasons and two summer feeding seasons), tail fluke photographs (for individual identification), skin biopsy samples (for genetic and pollutant analyses) and photographs of flanks and tail stocks (for human impact assessment) were collected from thousands of whales across the North Pacific. For more detailed information about the SPLASH project visit: http://hawaiihumpbackwhale.noaa.gov/special_offerings/sp_off/splash/spla....
The Cetacean Conservation and Genetics Laboratory is conducting the primary genetic analyses associated with the SPLASH project. Our interests are:
This research is funded by a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF).
Initial results will be presented at the 17th Biennial Marine Mammal Society meeting in Cape Town, South Africa 29 November to 3 December, 2007 (abstract below).
A comprehensive description of complex mtDNA population structure in North Pacific humpback whales
Baker, C. Scott1, Steel, Debbie1, Vant, Murdoch2, Barlow, Jay3, Burdin, Alexander M.4, Calambokidis, John5, Clapham, Phillip J.6, Ford, John K. B.7, Gabriele, Christine M.8, LeDuc, Rick3, Mattila, David9, Quinn, Terrance J.10, Rojas-Bracho, Lorenzo11, Straley, Janice M.12, Urbán R., Jorge13, Wade, Paul R.6, Weller, David3, Witteveen, Briana H.14, Wynne, Kate14, Yamaguchi, Manami15
E-mail: scott.baker@oregonstate.edu
We report on initial analyses of mitochondrial (mt) DNA diversity and population structure among humpback whales from all known feeding and breeding grounds in the North Pacific. Using samples collected during the ocean-wide program on the Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks (SPLASH) and prior to the initiation of this program in the winter of 2004, we have completed sequencing of the mtDNA control region for 1,318 individuals representing nine feeding grounds and eight breeding grounds. Sequence analysis of another 1,000 samples collected during the SPLASH program is under way. From a consensus region of 600 bp in length, we have identified 25 unique haplotypes representing two divergent lineages or clades, one of which is thought to have originated from a historical connection with the Southern Hemisphere. The frequency of haplotypes differed significantly among most regional feeding grounds, supporting previous characterization of maternal fidelity to migratory destinations. Breeding grounds showed significant but weaker differences in haplotype frequencies, consistent with photo-identification records showing the congregation of individuals from different feeding grounds on one or more breeding grounds. Thus the influence of fidelity operates somewhat independently on feeding and breeding ground, confounding a simple longitudinal division of seasonal habitats into "stocks." The potential to define multiple Genetic Management Units on both feeding grounds and breeding grounds presents the most complex pattern of population structure yet described for large whales.