I'm focussing on the two killer whale ecotypes (residents and transients) of the North Eastern Pacific. They have different feeding ecologies and also have several differences in their vocal behaviour (subject of my thesis). They have also never been seen to travel together. Some authors therefore say that they are socially isolated. Can you then also say they may be reproductively isolated?
I am not familiar with the biology of killer whales, but I believe you need further information. For instance, is reproductive behaviour of the 2 ecotypes known? In particular, whether they share the same breeding grounds is known? In that case, there is the possibility of inter-ecotype gene flow. Or information on whether the breeding season is in the same for the 2 ecotypes.
I agree with Ferrucio and don't think you can assume that they are repoductively isolated by just looking at feeding ecology and behavior. A simple genetic test could tell you if they are reproductively isolated or not, and if they are, how long ago they started diverging.
I agree that you really need genetic information to evaluate if these two ecotypes are genetically isolated or not and if they represent different populations. Killer whales also tend to have low genetic diversity so you should look into previously published papers and aim to have a reasonable sampling survey of your population.
Gabriela, for "low genetic diversity" do you mean within-population or among-population genetic diversity?
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Biological Science
- Zoology
- Ornithology