Commercial whaling during the 20th century drastically reduced many populations of great whales in the Southern Hemisphere. The Antarctic blue whale, for example, is estimated to have been reduced to less than 0.1% of its original abundance based on catch records and population dynamic models. Despite this population bottleneck, several...
Climate models indicate the Arctic will undergo dramatic environmental change with forecasted increases in temperature and river runoff. Saffron cod (Eleginus gracilis) is abundant in nearshore waters and appears in the diet of many Arctic sea birds and marine mammals; however, little is known about its early ecology and consequently...
The Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba Dana 1852) is widely distributed throughout the southern ocean, where it provides a key link between primary producers and upper trophic levels and supports a major commercial fishery. Despite its ecological and commercial importance, genetic population structure of the Antarctic kill remains poorly described. In...
The Antarctic blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus intermedia) was hunted to near extinction between 1904 and 1972, declining from an estimated initial abundance of more than 250,000 to fewer than 400. Here, we describe mtDNA control region diversity and geographic differentiation in the surviving population of the Antarctic blue whale, using...
Euphausiid krill play a critical role in coastal and oceanic food webs, linking primary producers to upper trophic levels. In addition, some species support commercial fisheries worldwide. Despite their ecological importance, the genetics of these important species remain poorly described. To improve our understanding of the genetics of these ecological...
Twentieth century commercial whaling drastically reduced the abundance of great whale populations in the Southern Ocean. Exploitation began on the south Atlantic island of South Georgia, where catch records account for over 175,000 whales killed. Modern whaling within the Southern Ocean depleted populations rapidly, and by 1966, hunting blue whales...