This one-year award will support collaborative research in mysticete whale systematics and conservation between Richard Lambertsen of the University of Pennsylvania's Ecosystems, Inc., Ulfur Arnason of the University of Lund in Sweden. Stephen Palumbi of the University of Hawaii will also participate in the project. Lambertsen and Arnason will photoidentify and sample by biopsy free-ranging humpback whales in the offshore waters between Iceland and Greenland. The tissues will be analyzed for mitrochondrial DNA variation and sequencing at the University of Hawaii and the University of Lund. These data will be correlated and compared to corresponding estimates of mitochondrial DNA nucleotides of other whale species in the Atlantic and Pacific. The project will extend ongoing investigations into the worldwide population genetics and evolution of mysticete whales supported under NSF grant BSR-900006 with Stephen Palumbi and Richard Lambertsen as consultant. This project is part of the NSF's Conservation Biology Initiative. Results will allow an initial assessment of the genetic consequences of commercially exploited whales, provide a greater understanding of mitochondrial DNA variation among whales worldwide and ultimately help promote the whale conservation. The project will benefit from the complementary expertise of Lambertsen in skin biopsy sampling and Arnason in DNA analysis and marine mammals.
