Impact of industrial whaling: scale, ecological, and evolutionary legacies

The large baleen whales were driven to near-extinction by industrial whaling during the 16th–20th centuries. Several key questions remain about the effects of this large-scale removal, such as: (a) what were the abundances of pre-whaling populations; (b) did whaling and subsequent recovery lead to changes in population structure, and connectivity; and (c) did the extreme population reductions due to whaling result in long-term negative impacts, thereby endangering the long-term persistence of baleen whales? These questions can only be answered by the integration of past and present genomic information. This project aims to obtain a set of genomes extracted from historical bones as an essential part of measuring the impact of industrial whaling on the remaining baleen whales. The output of this project will help us understand the genetic consequences of intense harvesting in marine mammals, providing baseline information for future protection efforts of these endangered species.

Faculty Supervisor:

Camilla Filomena Speller

Student:

Partner:

University of Groningen

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Education

University:

The University of British Columbia

Program: