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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Per Berggren
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Genetic analyses of population structure can be placed in explicit environmental contexts if appropriate environmental data are available. Here, we use high-coverage and highresolution oceanographic and genetic sequence data to assess population structure patterns and their potential environmental influences for humpback dolphins in the Western Indian Ocean. We analyzed mitochondrial DNA data from 94 dolphins from the coasts of South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Oman, employing frequencybased and maximum-likelihood algorithms to assess population structure and migration patterns. The genetic data were combined with 13 years of remote sensing oceanographic data of variables known to influence cetacean dispersal and population structure. Our analyses show strong and highly significant genetic structure between all putative populations, except for those in South Africa and Mozambique. Interestingly, the oceanographic data display marked environmental heterogeneity between all sampling areas and a degree of overlap between South Africa and Mozambique. Our combined analyses therefore suggest the occurrence of genetically isolated populations of humpback dolphins in areas that are environmentally distinct. This study highlights the utility of molecular tools in combination with highresolution and high-coverage environmental data to address questions not only pertaining to genetic population structure, but also to relevant ecological processes in marine species. Heredity advance online publication, 23 March 2011; doi:10.1038/hdy.2011.21
Author(s): Mendez M, Subramaniam A, Collins T, Minton G, Baldwin R, Berggren P, Särnblad A, Amir OA, Peddemors VM, Karczmarski L, Guissamulo A, Rosenbaum HC
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Heredity
Year: 2011
Volume: 107
Issue: 4
Pages: 349-361
Print publication date: 23/03/2011
ISSN (print): 0018-067X
ISSN (electronic): 1365-2540
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/hdy.2011.21
DOI: 10.1038/hdy.2011.21
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