Biology subjects

Rosing-Asvid, A.

Publications and source records attributed to Rosing-Asvid, A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Impact of tusk anomalies on the long-term foraging ecology of narwhals

Male narwhals are unique in having one long, spiralled tusk, while females of the species do not have a tusk. However, a small number of individuals develop tusk anomalies, including two-tusked males or females with a tusk. In this study, we combine genetic sexing and bone collagen stable isotope ({delta}13C and {delta}15N) analysis to evaluate whether these tooth anomalies impact foraging ecology. Our analysis of individuals collected in the waters around Greenland showed no systematic impacts; nine of ten two-tusked male narwhals, and all three one-tusked female narwhals were within the normal range of known isotopic diversity from the sampled geographic regions. Two specimens with other forms of unusual dentition both showed stable isotope values outside the range of narwhals, suggesting their diet was different. Our findings underscore how DNA data retrieved from museum specimens can elucidate biological questions of interest, such as the sex of anomalous individuals. They also show how stable isotope analysis can be used to assign individuals with unknown provenance to their geographic region of origin.

zoology↗

bioRxiv2023

Climate change introduces threatened killer whale populations and conservation challenges to the Arctic

The Arctic is the fastest-warming region on the planet, and sea ice loss has opened new habitat for sub-Arctic species such as the killer whale (Orcinus orca). As apex predators, killer whales can cause significant ecosystem-scale changes, however, we know very little about killer whales in the Arctic. Setting conservation priorities for killer whales and their Arctic prey species requires knowledge of their evolutionary history and demography. We found that there are two highly genetically distinct, non-interbreeding populations of killer whales using the eastern Canadian Arctic--one population is newly identified as globally distinct. The effective sizes of both populations recently declined, and both are vulnerable to inbreeding and reduced adaptive potential. Furthermore, we present evidence that human-caused mortalities, particularly ongoing harvest, pose an ongoing threat to these populations. The certainty of substantial environmental change in the Arctic complicates conservation and management significantly. Killer whales bring top-down pressure to Arctic food webs, however, they also merit conservation concern. The opening of the Arctic to killer whales exemplifies the magnitude of complex decisions surrounding local peoples, wildlife conservation, and resource management as the effects of climate change are realized.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2019

Sex identification of ancient pinnipeds using the dog genome

Determining the male and female representation in zooarchaeological material from hunted animal species is essential, to fully investigate the effects and means of prehistoric hunting practices, and may further provide valuable biological information on past animal life-history, behaviour and demography. However, the fragmented nature of the zooarchaeological record and a lack of clear diagnostic skeletal markers, often prevents such inference. Here, we test the usability of the dog nuclear genome (CanFam3.1) for sex identification of pinnipeds. First, a contemporary sample set (n=72) of ringed seals (Pusa hispida), with known sex was used to test the genetic sex identification method. By quantifying the proportion of X chromosome reads, as the chrX/chr1 ratio, the ratios clustered in two clearly distinguishable sex groups. Of the 72 individuals, 69 were identified to the accurate sex, which proves a high reliability of the genetic method. Second, random down sampling of a subset of the ringed seal samples to different read number, suggests at least 5000 DNA sequence reads mapped to the reference genome as the lower limit for which this method is applicable. Finally, applying this standard, sex identification was successfully carried out on a broad set of ancient pinniped samples, including walruses (Odobenus rosmarus), grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) and harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus), which all showed clearly distinct male and female chrX/chr1 ratio groups.

genomics↗