Project description:Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonine) are marine mammals with extreme diving profiles (300m to 1000m deep for 20 to 30 min). These apnea dives raise the question of muscular adaptations to hypoxia, as the muscles are particularly solicited during these dives. Moreover, exposure to hypoxia followed by reperfusion generally leads to the production of reactive oxygen species with deleterious effects on cells. The oxidative stress response can therefore be triggered in muscle cells during diving, as well as key changes related to cellular energetics. Finally, exposure to hypoxia may differ between juveniles and adults. To answer these questions, we analyzed the muscle proteome of juvenile and adult elephant seals, with the ultimate aim of linking differences with possible differences in antioxidant balance and mitochondrial function.
Project description:Efforts to conserve marine mammals are often constrained by uncertainty over their population history. Here, we examine the evolutionary history of a harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) population in the Moray Firth, northeast Scotland using genetic tools and microsatellite markers to explore population change. Previous fine-scale analysis of UK harbour seal populations revealed three clusters in the UK, with a northeastern cluster that included our Moray Firth study population. Our analysis revealed that the Moray Firth cluster is an independent genetic group, with similar levels of genetic diversity across each of the localities sampled. These samples were used to assess historic abundance and demographic events in the Moray Firth population. Estimates of current genetic diversity and effective population size were low, but the results indicated that this population has remained at broadly similar levels following the population bottleneck that occurred after post-glacial recolonization of the area.
