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Science 27 November 1998:
Vol. 282. no. 5394, pp. 1708 - 1711
DOI: 10.1126/science.282.5394.1708
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Reports

Cultural Selection and Genetic Diversity in Matrilineal Whales

Hal Whitehead

Low diversities of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have recently been found in four species of matrilineal whale. No satisfactory explanation for this apparent anomaly has been previously suggested. Culture seems to be an important part of the lives of matrilineal whales. The selection of matrilineally transmitted cultural traits, upon which neutral mtDNA alleles "hitchhike," has the potential to strongly reduce genetic variation. Thus, in contrast to other nonhuman mammals, culture may be an important evolutionary force for the matrilineal whales.

Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4J1. E-mail: hwhitehe{at}is.dal.ca

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Evolution of Population Structure in a Highly Social Top Predator, the Killer Whale.
A. R. Hoelzel, J. Hey, M. E. Dahlheim, C. Nicholson, V. Burkanov, and N. Black (2007)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 24, 1407-1415
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
From the Cover: Cultural hitchhiking on the wave of advance of beneficial technologies.
G. J. Ackland, M. Signitzer, K. Stratford, and M. H. Cohen (2007)
PNAS 104, 8714-8719
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Cultural transmission of tool use in bottlenose dolphins.
M. Krutzen, J. Mann, M. R. Heithaus, R. C. Connor, L. Bejder, and W. B. Sherwin (2005)
PNAS 102, 8939-8943
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Effect of Differential Reproductive Success on Population Genetic Structure: Correlations of Life History With Matrilines in Humpback Whales of the Gulf of Maine.
H. C. Rosenbaum, M. T. Weinrich, S. A. Stoleson, J. P. Gibbs, C. S. Baker, and R. DeSalle (2002)
J. Hered. 93, 389-399
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Closure in the Emergence and Evolution of Life: Multiple Discourses or One?.
B. H. WEBER (2000)
Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 901, 132-138
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Culture and Genetic Evolution in Whales.
S. L. Mesnick, B. L. Taylor, R. G. Le Duc, S. E. Treviño, G. M. O'Corry-Crowe, A. E. Dizon;, C. Schlötterer;, R. Tiedemann, M. C. Milinkovitch;, W. Amos;, et al. (1999)
Science 284, 2055a-2055
   Full Text »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)