Eleven seal species narrowly escaped extinction

Date:  November 16, 2018

Source:  Bielefeld University

Their fur was used as a raw material for coats; their fat was used for oil lamps and cosmetics: right up to the end of the nineteenth century, millions of seals were being hunted and killed every year worldwide. The consequences of this episode of commercial hunting for today's seal populations is the subject of a study published today (16.11.2018) in Nature Communications. Population geneticists at Bielefeld University and the British Antarctic Survey have found that eleven seal species only narrowly escaped extinction. The scientists managed to include nearly all of the species alive today in their research. The study nevertheless reveals that most species survived the heyday of seal hunting in sufficient numbers to retain most of their genetic diversity.

'Hunting, epidemics, and climate change all have the potential to reduce the number of individuals in a population to the point where genetic diversity is lost,' says Professor Dr Joseph Hoffman, head of the Molecular Behavioural Ecology research group at Bielefeld University and sub-project manager in the Transregio Collaborative Research Centre NC³ that is studying animals and their individual niches. 'These extreme population reductions are known as bottlenecks and can affect a species' potential to survive'.

'When a species lacks genetic diversity, it has a lower chance of adapting to changing environmental conditions or protecting itself against parasites or pathogens. You can compare the gene pool with a toolbox: the fewer tools you have, the less well-equipped you are for different situations,' says Hoffman.

Continued