Learning from the past : genetic analyses of ancient and contemporary samples identify how historic and pre-historic events have shaped modern whale populations

Abstract

The techniques for genetic species identification and inferring past population sizes are being utilized in more fields than just population genetics. Anthropology, conservation biology, and species management are also using these practices. They can use these techniques to confirm historical data and to make informed decisions in the future. By using genetic species identification on ancient whale bones recovered from traditional First Nations whaling sites, it was discovered that gray and humpback whales were the species of choice. This is important information in regards to the future of First Nations traditional whaling on Canada’s west coast. The DNA recovered from these ancient whale bones was then used to estimate pre-commercial whaling genetic variation, and make inferences about historic and pre-historic population demography. In addition to gaining insight into historic population demography, I also found that results differed dramatically if such inferences were based on historic or contemporary samples. These results are particularly important given the increasing popularity of using contemporary samples to infer population history, and show that caution is required when interpreting the results of such studies.