• High genomic diversity in the endangered East Greenland Svalbard Barents Sea stock of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) 

      Cerca, José; Westbury, Michael V; Heide-Jørgensen, Mads-Peter; Kovacs, Kit M.; Lorenzen, Eline D.; Lydersen, Christian; Shpak, Olga V.; Wiig, Øystein; Bachmann, Lutz (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2022-04-12)
      The East Greenland-Svalbard-Barents Sea (EGSB) bowhead whale stock (Balaena mysticetus) was hunted to near extinction and remains Endangered on the International Union of Conservation of Nature Red List. The intense, temporally extensive hunting pressure may have left the population vulnerable to other perturbations, such as environmental change. However, the lack of genomic baseline data renders ...
    • Mitogenomics and the genetic differentiation of contemporary Balaena mysticetus (Cetacea) from Svalbard 

      Bachmann, Lutz; Cabrera, Andrea A.; Heide-Jørgensen, Mads-Peter; Shpak, Olga V.; Lydersen, Christian; Wiig, Øystein; Kovacs, Kit M. (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2020-08-12)
      Full mitochondrial genomes were assembled for 12 recently sampled animals from the Svalbard bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) stock via high-throughput sequencing data, facilitating analysis of the demographic history of the population for the first time. The Svalbard population has retained noticeable amounts of mitochondrial genome diversity despite extreme historical harvest levels. Haplotype ...
    • Sea ice reduction drives genetic differentiation among Barents Sea polar bears 

      Maduna, Simo; Aars, Jon; Fløystad, Ida; Klutsch, Cornelya; Fiskebeck, Eve Marie Louise Zeyl; Wiig, Øystein; Ehrich, Dorothee; Andersen, Magnus; Bachmann, Lutz; Derocher, Andrew E.; Nyman, Tommi; Eiken, Hans Geir; Hagen, Snorre (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2021-09-08)
      Loss of Arctic sea ice owing to climate change is predicted to reduce both genetic diversity and gene flow in ice-dependent species, with potentially negative consequences for their long-term viability. Here, we tested for the population-genetic impacts of reduced sea ice cover on the polar bear (<i>Ursus maritimus</i>) sampled across two decades (1995–2016) from the Svalbard Archipelago, Norway, ...
    • Strong and lasting impacts of past global warming on baleen whales and their prey 

      Cabrera, Andrea A.; Schall, Elena; Berube, Martine; Anderwald, Pia; Berrow, Simon; Best, Peter B.; Cunha, Haydée A.; Dalla Rosa, Luciano; Dias, Carolina P.; Findlay, Kenneth P.; Haug, Tore; Heide-Jørgensen, Mads-Peter; Hoelzel, A. Rus; Kovacs, Kit M.; Landry, Scott; Larsen, Finn; Moreira Lopes, Xenia; Lydersen, Christian; Mattila, David K.; Oosting, Tom; Pace III, Richard M.; Papetti, Chiara; Paspati, Angeliki; Pastene, Luis A.; Prieto, Rui; Ramp, Christian; Robbins, Jooke; Sears, Richard; Secchi, Eduardo; Silva, Monica A.; Simon, Malene; Vikingsson, Gísli A.; Wiig, Øystein; Palsbøll, Per J.; Øien, Nils; Bachmann, Lutz; Clapham, Phillip J. (Journal article; Tidsskriftartikkel; Peer reviewed, 2022-02-02)
      Global warming is affecting the population dynamics and trophic interactions across a wide range of ecosystems and habitats. Translating these real-time effects into their long-term consequences remains a challenge. The rapid and extreme warming period that occurred after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition (7–12 thousand years ago) provides an opportunity ...