ACS Monterey Bay Program for March 2009

Reconstruction of the Historical Population Size of the Antarctic Minke Whale

Thursday, March 26, 2009 7 p.m. Refreshments, 7:30 p.m. Program Lecture Hall, Monterey Boatworks, Hopkins Marine Station, Pacific Grove (Across from American Tin Cannery Outlet Stores) Speaker: Kristen C. Ruegg, Ph.D., Palumbi Lab, Hopkins Marine Station

As we all know, the need for effective marine conservation continues to become more apparent the more we learn about that environment and its importance to a healthy planetary ecosystem. The activities of humans over time have disrupted Nature's balance in so many ways. Effective conservation requires an accurate understanding of the past so that the management programs designed and implemented will have a real chance to restore a healthy balance to our planet.

Among other things, our speaker will discuss the "Krill Surplus Hypothesis" which posits that the hunting of nearly 2 million great whales led to competitive release for smaller krill eating species like the Southern Ocean minke whale. If true, the current size of the Southern Ocean minke whale population could be artificially high as an indirect result of past whaling.

Kristen's research involves estimating long-term Southern Ocean minke whale population by sequencing eleven nuclear genetic markers from 52 modern samples purchased in Japanese meat markets. The results of this research call into question the link between large baleen whale exploitation and the current size of the Southern Ocean minke whale population. These results suggest that managing Antarctic ecosystems under the assumption that minke whales are unusually abundant is not warranted. Please join us for an informative presentation about this important and cutting edge research.

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