The Institute of Cetacean Research
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- Genetic Ecology
Genetic Ecology section
This research section aims to elucidate taxonomy and population structure of large whales. Sound policies on conservation and management require clarity on the taxonomy of the species involved as well as information on the number and spatial and temporal distribution of populations within a species. This is because different populations of the same species could have different demographic characteristics and therefore, they could respond in different ways to environmental stressors, including whaling. Abundance estimated by the abundance estimation section should be interpreted in the context of the number and spatial and temporal distribution of the populations.
The main approach used by this section to investigate population structure is genetic analyses based on genetic samples from a variety of sources. It uses several genetic techniques such as mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequencing; microsatellite DNA (msDNA) and Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNPs). Therefore, both nuclear and mitochondrial genetic markers are used to investigate taxonomy and population structure in several whale species. Genetic analyses are complemented with other non-genetic approaches used by other research sections (for example, morphology, morphometry, photo-identification and satellite tagging) to get a more comprehensive and reasonable interpretation of taxonomy and population structure.
This section is also in charge of implementing DNA registry for large whales and molecular monitoring of whale products in the retail market and of overseeing the DNA registry process of by-caught and commercialy caught large whales in the Japanese waters.
In cooperation with the biology section, epigenetic analyses are conducted to evaluate the feasibility of aging whales based on biopsy samples. Age determination obtained from earplugs (by the biology section) for the same whale samples of the epigenetic study are used for calibration purposes.