Abstract
A study of the homogeneity between putative stocks of Phocoena phocoena in the North Sea and inner Danish waters was performed using isozyme electrophoresis. Two polymorphic systems, mannose phosphate isomerase (MPI) and phosphoglucomutase (PGM) were used in the analysis. A two-locus homogeneity test showed an effect of season and locality on the genotypic distribution. This led to a division of the total sample into season and into the two localities, the inner Danish waters (IDW) and the North Sea. The samples were then compared to the Hardy-Weinberg expectations where a deficit in heterozygotes was observed in the North Sea sample in both systems and at the Pgm locus in the total sample, indicating a mixing of sub-populations. A hierarchical contingency table analysis, also based on the genotypic distribution, showed a combined effect of season and locality and only an insignificant effect of sampling period, thus supporting the division into season and locatily. The seasonal effect is further supported by earlier observations of a seasonal migration of harbour porpoises out of the Baltic in winter. A significant difference was observed between the two supposed sub-populations, IDW-summer and North Sea-summer samples, based on the genotypic distribution. This could also be a reflection of the sample sizes. On the basis of samples obtained from Canada, West Greenland and Holland a preliminary study of the population structure on a larger scale, comprising the North East and North West Atlantic, was performed. The results so far accord well with the hitherto accepted sub-populations of P. phocoena in the North Atlantic.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature cited
Amano, M., Miyazaki, N. (1992). Geographic variation in skulls of the harbour porpoise, Phocoena phocoena. Mammalia 56 (1): 133–144
Andersen, L. W. (1988). Electrophoretic differentiation among local populations of the long-finned pilot whale, Globicephala melaena, at the Faroe Islands. Can. J. Zool. 66: 1884–1892
Andersen, S. H. (1982). Change of occurrence of the harbour porpoise, Ph. phocoena, in Danish Waters as illustrated by catch statistics from 1934–1970. FAO Fisheries Ser. No. 5. 4: 131–133
Bjørge, A., Øien, N. (1989). Distribution of harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena in Norwegian Waters. Paper SC/41/SM 1 presented to the International Whaling Commision (IWC) Scientific Committee, June, 1–7
Brown, A. H. D. (1970). The estimation of Wright's fixation index from genotypic frequencies. Genetica 41: 399–406
Christiansen, F. B., Frydenberg, O., Simonsen, V. (1984). Genetics of Zoarces population. XII. Variations at the polymorphic loci PgmI, PgmII, HbI and EstIII in fjords. Hereditas 101: 37–48
Clausen, B., Andersen, S. H. (1988). Evaluation of bycatch and health status of the harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) in Danish Waters. Dan. Rev. Game Biol. 13 (5): 1–20
Evans, P. G. H. (1987). The natural history of whales & dolphins. Christopher Helm, London
Felsenstein, J. (1981). Evolutionary trees from gene frequencies and quantitative characters: finding the maximum likelihood estimates. Evolution, Lawrence, Kansas 35: 1229–1242
Gaskin, D. E. (1984). The harbour porpoise, Phocoena phocoena, (L.): regional populations, status, and information on direct and indirect catches. Rep. int. Whal. Comm. 34: 569–586
Gaskin, D. E., Smith, G. J. D., Watson, A. P., Yasui, W. Y., Yurick, D. B. (1984). Reproduction in the porpoises (Phocoenidae): implication for management. Rep. int. Whal. Comm. (spec. Issue) 6: 135–143
Hill, W. G. (1974). Estimation of linkage disequilibrium in randomly mating populations. Heredity 33 (2): 229–239
Hjorth, J. P. (1971). Genetics of Zoarces populations. I. Three loci determining the phosphoglucomutase isoenzymes in the brain tissue. Hereditas 69: 223–242
Kinze, C. C. (1985). Intraspecific variation in Baltic and North Sea harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena (L., 1758)). Vidensk. Meddr. dansk naturh. Foren. 146: 63–74
Møhl-Hansen, B. U. (1954). Investigations on reproduction and growth of the porpoise (Phocoena phocoena (L.)) from the Baltic. Vidensk. Meddr. dansk naturh. Foren. 116: 369–396
Polacheck, T., Wenzel, F. W. (1990). What do stranding data say about harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). Paper SC/42/SM 39 presented to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) Scientific Committee June 1990, 1–12
Sokal, R. R., Rohlf, F. J. (1981). Biometry. 2nd Edn. W. H. Freeman and Co., San Francisco
van Utrecht, W. L. (1978). Age and growth in Phocoena phocoena Linnaeus, 1758 (Cetacea, Odontoceti) from the North Sea. Bijdr. Dierkunde 48: 16–28
Weir, B. S., Cockerham, C. C. (1979). Estimation of linkage disequilibrium in randomly mating populations. Heredity 42 (1): 105–111
Wilkinson, L. (1988). SYSTAT: the system for statistics. SYSTAT, Inc., Evanston, Illinois
Yurick, D. B., Gaskin, D. E. (1987). Morphometric and meristic comparisons of skulls of harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena (L.) from the North Atlantic and North Pacific. Ophelia 27 (1): 53–75
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by T. Fenchel, Helsingør
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Andersen, L.W. The population structure of the harbour porpoise, Phocoena phocoena, in Danish waters and part of the North Atlantic. Marine Biology 116, 1–7 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00350725
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00350725