Dear all, On behalf of all the co-authors I'm happy to share our new publication in *Science* "Wild pedigrees inform mutation rates and historic abundance in baleen whales"
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adf2160 *Abstract* Phylogeny-based estimates suggesting a low germline mutation rate (μ) in baleen whales have influenced research ranging from assessments of whaling impacts to evolutionary cancer biology. We estimated μ directly from pedigrees in four baleen whale species for both the mitochondrial control region and nuclear genome. The results suggest values higher than those obtained through phylogeny-based estimates and similar to pedigree-based values for primates and toothed whales. Applying our estimate of μ reduces previous genetic-based estimates of preexploitation whale abundance by 86% and suggests that μ cannot explain low cancer rates in gigantic mammals. Our study shows that it is feasible to estimate μ directly from pedigrees in natural populations, with wide-ranging implications for ecological and evolutionary research. Best, Marcos -- *Marcos Suárez Menéndez, MSc. *(he/him) PhD Student | Marine Evolution and Conservation Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences (GELIFES) University of Groningen Zernike Campus, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands
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