Evolutionary history and seascape genomics of Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) across environmental gradients in the North Atlantic and adjacent waters.

ABSTRACT: The Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) is a highly mobile cetacean species primarily occurring in coastal and shelf waters across the Northern hemisphere. It inhabits heterogeneous seascapes broadly varying in salinity and temperature. Here, we produced 74 whole genomes at intermediate coverage to study Harbour porpoise's evolutionary history and investigate the role of local adaptation in the diversification into subspecies and populations. We identified ~6 million high quality SNPs sampled at eight localities across the North Atlantic and adjacent waters, which we used for population structure, demographic and genotype-environment association analyses. Our results suggest a genetic differentiation between three subspecies (P.p. relicta, P.p. phocoena and P.p. meridionalis), and three d

SUBMITTER: Celemin E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12142726 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature