Habitat‐driven population structure of bottlenose dolphins,Tursiops truncatus,in the North‐East Atlantic |
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Authors: | Marie Louis Amélia Viricel Tamara Lucas Hélène Peltier Eric Alfonsi Simon Berrow Andrew Brownlow Pablo Covelo Willy Dabin Rob Deaville Renaud de Stephanis François Gally Pauline Gauffier Rod Penrose Monica A. Silva Christophe Guinet Benoit Simon‐Bouhet |
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Affiliation: | 1. Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, UPR 1934, , 79360 Villiers‐en‐Bois, France;2. Littoral, Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), UMR 7266, CNRS/Université de La Rochelle, , 17000 La Rochelle, France;3. GECC (Groupe d'Etude des Cétacés du Cotentin), , 50130 Cherbourg‐Octeville, France;4. Observatoire PELAGIS, UMS 3462 CNRS/Université de La Rochelle, Ple Analytique, , 17000 La Rochelle, France;5. Laboratoire d'Etude des Mammiféres Marins, Océanopolis, port de plaisance, , 29210 Brest Cedex 1, France;6. Laboratoire BioGeMME (Biologie et Génétique des Mammiféres Marins dans leur Environnement), Université Européenne de Bretagne & Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Université de Brest, UFR Sciences et Techniques, , CS93837 29238 Brest Cedex 3, France;7. Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, Merchants Quay, , Kilrush, Co Clare, Ireland;8. Marine and Freshwater Research Centre, Galway‐Mayo Institute of Technology, , Galway, Ireland;9. Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme, SAC Disease Surveillance Centre, , Inverness, IV2 4JZ UK;10. CEMMA (Coordinadora para o Estudo dos Mamiferos Mari?os), , 36380 Gondomar (Pontevedra), Spain;11. Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, , London, NWI 4RY UK;12. Estación Biológica de Do?ana‐CSIC, Americo Vespuccio S/N, , Sevilla, 41092 Spain;13. CIRCE (Conservation, Information and Research on Cetaceans), Cabeza de Manzaneda 3, , 11390 Cadix, Spain;14. Marine Environmental Monitoring, Penwalk, Llechryd, , West Wales, SA43 2PS UK;15. Center of the Institute of Marine Research & Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, University of the Azores, , 9901‐862 Horta, Portugal;16. Laboratory of Robotics and Systems in Engineering and Science, , 9901‐862 Horta, Portugal;17. Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, , Woods Hole, MA, 02543 USA |
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Abstract: | 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. |
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Keywords: | cetaceans conservation ecotypes feeding specializations philopatry population genetics |
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