The Cetacean Conservation and Genomics Laboratory (CCGL) is committed to a greater understanding of the molecular ecology and systematics of whales, dolphins and porpoises around the world. Our work on large whales is pursuing three inter-related themes:
To improve our understanding of the impact of hunting on the abundance of whales and the ecological role of whales before human exploitation, we are working to improve population dynamic models by including genetic information on long-term effective population sizes before exploitation and minimum population size during exploitation.
To assess the current status of great whale populations, the CCGL is involved in three large-scale, collaborative studies: the Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks (SPLASH) project in the North Pacific; the South Pacific Whale Research Consortium's assessment of the population structure and migratory interchange of humpback whales in the South Pacific; and a worldwide study of genetic diversity and population structure of sperm whales through collaboration with the Ocean Alliance.
To conserve the future of whales and dolphins, we have continued surveys of ‘whale-meat' markets in Japan and the Republic of (South) Korea. The work is part of a long-term study of trade in protected whales and dolphins using a portable PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) laboratory to identify the species origins of the products.
The CCGL contributes to policy on the conservation of cetaceans through participation in the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and the Cetacean Specialist Group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
A team of international collaborators examined a dead female whale in New Zealand whale found that it was morphologically and genetically different from all other whale species, and so Ramari’s beaked whale was described. Scott Baker initiated the DNA and tissue archive used for this study when he was a professor at the University of Auckland.
Scott Baker is a coauthor on a new study concludes that the humpback whale population in Southeast Alaska waters was disrupted by the massive and intense 2014-2016 Northeast Pacific marine heatwave.
Dr. Ellie Bors and coauthors were interviewed by Public Radio for the Central Kenai Peninsula about their recently published work on a new method to determine the ages of living beluga whales.
Thanks to a new genomic-based technique, researchers can now determine the age and sex of living beluga whales in Alaska’s Cook Inlet.
In this 15-min interview, Professor Scott Baker speaks to BYU Radio about mass strandings of whales. Last month, hundreds of pilot whales were found stranded on a sandbank in Tasmania.
Dr. Emma Carroll will be traveling to the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands to try to answer one of the big whale mysteries: where do New Zealand southern right whales go when they leave the sub-Antarctic, and which route do they take to get there? Dr. Carroll was a PhD student under Professor Scott Baker. Her research builds on the long-term population study of New Zealand right whales initiated by Prof. Baker at the University of Auckland.
Marine Mammal Institute
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