Genetic Diversity and Connectivity of Southern Right Whales (Eubalaena australis) Found in the Brazil and Chile–Peru Wintering Grounds and the South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur) Feeding Ground

CARROLL, EMMA L; OTT, PAULO H; MCMILLAN, LOUISE F; GALLETTI VERNAZZANI, BÁRBARA; NEVECERALOVA, PETRA; VERMEULEN, ELS; GAGGIOTTI, OSCAR E; ANDRIOLO, ARTUR; BAKER, C SCOTT; BAMFORD, CONNOR; BEST, PETER; CABRERA, ELSA; CALDERAN, SUSANNAH; CHIRIFE, ANDREA; FEWSTER, RACHEL M; FLORES, PAULO A C; FRASIER, TIMOTHY; FREITAS, THALES R O; GROCH, KARINA; HULVA, PAVEL; KENNEDY, AMY; LEAPER, RUSSELL; LESLIE, MATTHEW S; MOORE, MICHAEL; OLIVEIRA, LARISSA; SEGER, JON; STEPIEN, EMILIE N; VALENZUELA, LUCIANO O; ZERBINI, ALEXANDRE; JACKSON, JENNIFER A

JOURNAL OF HEREDITY

OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC

Año: 2020 vol. 111 p. 263 - 276

0022-1503

As species recover from exploitation,continued assessments of connectivity and population structure are warranted toprovide information for conservation and management. This is particularly true inspecies with high dispersal capacity, such as migratory whales, where patternsof connectivity could change rapidly. Here we build on a previous long-term,large-scale collaboration on southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) to combine new (nnew) and published (npub) mitochondrial (mtDNA)and microsatellite genetic data from all major wintering grounds and, uniquely,the South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur: SG) feeding grounds. Specifically,we include data from Argentina (npub mtDNA/microsatellite = 208/46), Brazil (nnew mtDNA/microsatellite= 50/50), South Africa (nnew mtDNA/microsatellite = 66/77, npub mtDNA/microsatellite= 350/47), Chile?Peru (nnew mtDNA/microsatellite = 1/1), the Indo-Pacific (npub mtDNA/microsatellite= 769/126), and SG (npub mtDNA/microsatellite = 8/0, nnew mtDNA/microsatellite= 3/11) to investigate the position of previously unstudied habitats in themigratory network: Brazil, SG, and Chile?Peru. These new genetic data showconnectivity between Brazil and Argentina, exemplified by weak geneticdifferentiation and the movement of 1 genetically identified individual betweenthe South American grounds. The single sample from Chile?Peru had an mtDNAhaplotype previously only observed in the Indo-Pacific and had a nucleargenotype that appeared admixed between the Indo-Pacific and South Atlantic,based on genetic clustering and assignment algorithms. The SG samples wereclearly South Atlantic and were more similar to the South American than theSouth African wintering grounds. This study highlights how internationalcollaborations are critical to provide context for emerging or recoveringregions, like the SG feeding ground, as well as those that remain criticallyendangered, such as Chile?Peru.