DOI: 10.5061/dryad.pg4f4qrk8
title: Genetic diversity and connectivity of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) found in the Brazil and Chile–Peru wintering grounds and the South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur) feeding ground

description: As species recover from exploitation, continued assessments of
 connectivity and population structure are warranted to provide information
 for conservation and management. This is particularly true in species with
 high dispersal capacity, such as migratory whales, where patterns of
 connectivity could change rapidly. Here we build on a previous long-term,
 large-scale collaboration on southern right whales (Eubalaena australis)
 to combine new (nnew) and published (npub) mitochondrial (mtDNA) and
 microsatellite genetic data from all major wintering grounds and,
 uniquely, the South Georgia (Islas Georgias del Sur: SG) feeding grounds.
 Specifically, we include data from Argentina (npub mtDNA/microsatellite =
 208/46), Brazil (nnew mtDNA/microsatellite = 50/50), South Africa (nnew
 mtDNA/microsatellite = 66/77, npub mtDNA/microsatellite = 350/47),
 Chile–Peru (nnew mtDNA/microsatellite = 1/1), the Indo-Pacific (npub
 mtDNA/microsatellite = 769/126), and SG (npub mtDNA/microsatellite = 8/0,
 nnew mtDNA/microsatellite = 3/11) to investigate the position of
 previously unstudied habitats in the migratory network: Brazil, SG, and
 Chile–Peru. These new genetic data show connectivity between Brazil and
 Argentina, exemplified by weak genetic differentiation and the movement of
 1 genetically identified individual between the South American grounds.
 The single sample from Chile–Peru had an mtDNA haplotype previously only
 observed in the Indo-Pacific and had a nuclear genotype that appeared
 admixed between the Indo-Pacific and South Atlantic, based on genetic
 clustering and assignment algorithms. The SG samples were clearly South
 Atlantic and were more similar to the South American than the South
 African wintering grounds. This study highlights how international
 collaborations are critical to provide context for emerging or recovering
 regions, like the SG feeding ground, as well as those that remain
 critically endangered, such as Chile–Peru.
description: Collection
 and laboratory methods described in publication. Data archived here
 described as follows. 1. Microsatellite data The repository contains microsatellite genotypes for all samples used in the analysis in genepop format: SRW_All_Data_SamplingLocationGenepop.txt   The order of populations in this file is as follows: <br> South Africa (n = 123) Argentina (n = 46) Brazil (n = 50) South Georgia (n = 11) Chile (n = 1) Australia (n = 78) New Zealand (n = 51)   As per Table 1 in the original manuscript.   2. Mitochondrial DNA data This repository contains the mtDNA data in two formats: (1) excel spreadsheet with haplotype names, genbank accession numbers, references and accession numbers, with count of each haplotype per sampling location: Dryad_mtDNA_Hap_Frequencies.xlsx (2) Arlequin file linking haplotype counts and sequences in one file: 380bp_SGSRW_SouthAtlantic_Aug19.txt  
description: The Indo-Pacific (Australia/New Zealand) dataset comes from
 original publication Carroll et al 2015 The Argentina
 and part of the South Africna dataset comes from original publication
 Carroll et al 2019