This dataset details genetic samples taken from blue whales in the Pacific and Southern oceans. For this data, questions I would be interested in answering include: do certain genes stay close to certain geographical areas? Do microsatellite locations show correlation among local populations? Are these genetic markers enough to draw distinctions between geographically distinct populations? Is the blue whale population genetically homogeneous according to the markers set out in this study?
Source: https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061%2Fdryad.bc558
| Column No. | Attribute Name | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sample | Categorical | Sample name |
| 2 | Locality | Categorical | Area whale was sampled in |
| 3 | Coordinates | Quantitative | Location |
| 4 | Date | Quantitative | Date Sample was Taken |
| 5-18 | Microsatellite Data | Quantitative | Loci of microsatellite for each genetic marker (allele) |
| 19 | Sex | Categorical | Sex of whale |
| 20 | Haplotype | Categorical | Haplotype Name |
| 21 | Genbank accession Nº | Categorical | Genbank Accesion Number of each Haplotype |
From wikipedia: "A microsatellite is a tract of repetitive DNA in which certain DNA motifs (ranging in length from one to six or more base pairs) are repeated, typically 5–50 times... [they are] used in population genetics to measure levels of relatedness between subspecies, groups and individuals."