We are pleased to announce the publication of our paper describing how fertilization patterns in North Atlantic right whales are biased towards genetically dissimilar gametes. The short-term implication is that this process may be partially responsible for the reduced reproductive performance of this species, but in the long-term it has resulted in a slight increase in heterozygosity in calves born throughout the study period. Thus, it appears to be a double-edged sword in terms implications, depending on if you look at it from a short- or long-term scale.

This was the subject of my "speed talk" at the last Society for Marine Mammalogy conference (in Florida).

It is published in the Open Access journal Ecology and Evolution, and should therefore be free for all. A link is below.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.738/abstract

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Timothy R. Frasier
Department of Biology & Forensic Sciences Program
Saint Mary's University
923 Robie Street
Halifax, NS B3H 3C3
Canada

Tel: (902) 491-6382

Fax: (902) 420-5046
E-mail: timothy.frasier@smu.ca