Migration Studies
Where is humpback whale prey more abundant?
Boreal and polar regions
What prevents southern and northern populations from interchanging?
The seasonal opposition of the migratory cycle.
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Blubber layer
A thick layer of fat also called adipose tissue, that is directly under all marine mammals' skin.
What do humpback whales do in high latitudes (cold water)?
Feed
Why having one feeding ground for different stocks of humpback whales can be difficult?
Hunting in that given location for an extended period of time can lead to losses of more than one stock increasing the loss of genetic variation.
What prevents the populations of the North Atlantic and the North Pacific from interacting?
Land masses
What has allowed humpback whales to surpass bottleneck situations without significant loss of genetic variation?
Long generation time and age structure
Panmictic
Random mating within a breeding population.
What do humpback whales do in low latitudes (warm water)?
Breed
What are the first whales to leave the feeding areas?
Lactating females with their calf
Why do they say that equatorial dispersal was more frequent in the Pleistocene?
This is thought to be due to the cold waters of that period.
How do calves learn where are their feeding grounds after returning from their breeding grounds?
The mother's feeding grounds become their calves feeding ground when the mother leads the calf to the feeding ground.
Philopatric
Tending to return to or remain near a particular site or area.
What does Photo ID focus on humpback whales?
Dorsal fin shape, permanent scars and different pigmentations
How can humpback movement and migratory patterns be studied?
Photo ID
What are the two main genetic studies performed on humpback whales?
Mitochondrial and nuclear DNA
When does nuclear genetic differentiation between humpback populations occur?
Between the North Atlantic populations and ocassionally accros the equator in the Pacific Ocean.
Cosmopolitan Species
Geologically distributed species that are exhibited in all regions, if not most regions of the globe.
What are the three principal oceanic populations of humpback whales?
North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Southern Oceans.
Different breeding grounds same feeding grounds
Primary movement with some possible movement across the different areas
What is one of the leading causes of high genetic variation?
Persistent divergent mtDNA present in humpback whales for millions of years.
Which parent transmits mtDNA to its offspring?
Mother
Pleistocene
The geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago.
Which whales don't do the annual migration?
A population in the Arabian sea