2026-03-18 コペンハーゲン大学（UCPH）
＜関連情報＞
- https://news.ku.dk/all_news/2026/03/past-intensive-whaling-threatens-the-future-of-bowhead-whales/
- https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(26)00229-1
4世紀にわたる商業捕鯨は、ホッキョククジラの1万1000年にわたる個体数の安定性を損なった Four centuries of commercial whaling eroded 11,000 years of population stability in bowhead whales
Michael V. Westbury ∙ Stuart C. Brown ∙ Andrea A. Cabrera ∙ … ∙ Paul Szpak ∙ Damien A. Fordham ∙ Eline D. Lorenzen
Cell Published:March 17, 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2026.02.022
Graphical abstract
Highlights
- Integrating paleogenomics, stable isotopes, habitat modeling, and paleoclimate data
- Holocene bowhead whales show long-term genomic stability despite environmental change
- Commercial-whaling-driven genetic erosion is ongoing and not yet fully realized
- Even full demographic recovery cannot restore pre-whaling fitness
Summary
Bowhead whales were heavily exploited during commercial whaling between the 16th and 20th centuries. Current and near-future climate warming poses a new threat. Assessing bowhead vulnerability to climatic change remains challenging due to insufficient knowledge regarding responses to past climates and pre-whaling population dynamics. We integrate paleogenomics and stable isotopes (δ13C and δ15N) from 206 bowhead fossils from the Atlantic Arctic with paleoclimate and ecological modeling based on 823 radiocarbon-dated fossils, including 140 from this study. We find long-term resilience of bowheads to Holocene environmental perturbations, with no detectable changes in genetic diversity or population structure. Simulated commercial-whaling-driven genetic and fitness changes indicate that population subdivision and loss of genetic diversity are unlikely to be fully realized, despite nearly a century since whaling ceased. Furthermore, even in simulated complete population recovery scenarios, overall fitness did not return to pre-whaling levels, potentially compromising the future resilience of bowhead whales.
