NRDPFC

Brenna A. McLeod, Ph.D

Education

2002-2008
Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario
Doctor of Philosophy
1996-2000
Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario
Biology/Anthropology Joint Honours Degree

Research

My interests lie in many areas of conservation genetics relating to species history, conservation, and management of marine mammals. These include the evaluation of taxonomic status and stock identification, patterns of genetic diversity over time, and the assessment of genetic variation at regions associated with reproductive success and disease (such as the major histocompatibility complex: MHC).

Whaling over the last century has devastated many baleen whale stocks worldwide and we are only just beginning to understand the effects of population reductions due to whaling, the extent to which species are now recovering, and the ways to evaluate this recovery. Primarily, though not exclusively, my research involves the assessment of genetic diversity within historic and contemporary baleen whale populations that have been reduced by whaling activities. Specifically, this work includes:

Mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA assessment of 16th century North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) and bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) bone specimens from the coasts of Quebec and Labrador. Here, 400 years ago, Basque whalers traveled annually to the Strait of Belle Isle to kill whales for their blubber and whalebone. By investigating the species composition of this catch and by comparing pre- and post- exploitation levels of genetic diversity in these species we are gaining a clearer understanding of the impact of this whaling on both species.
Long term assessment of genetic diversity in the bowhead whale. Through the assessment of bowhead bone specimens from throughout the Canadian arctic over the past 10,000 years, we are able to evaluate levels and patterns of genetic diversity in this long lived species as they relate to habitat availability and historic contact events between western and eastern Arctic populations.
Evaluation of 20th century whaling at Deception Island, Antarctica. For a short but intensive period, floating factories and a shore based processing station were based at Deception Island, along the Antarctic Peninsula. Through the analysis of whalebones collected in the harbour of Deception Island we are evaluating catch composition, and creating a genetic databank of historic DNA data for future assessment of genetic loss in a variety of species, and the stock origin of the whales hunted in this region.

Publications

McLeod, BA, Brown, MW, Moore, MJ, and BN White (in sub) Historical genetic diversity of bowhead
whales (Balaena mysticetus) of the eastern Canadian Arctic.

McLeod, BA, AS Dyke, JM Savelle, and B. N. White (in sub) Examination of ten thousand years of
mitochondrial diversity of bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) of the Central Canadian Arctic.

McLeod, BA, MW Brown, and BN White (in sub) DNA profile of a 16th century North Atlantic right whale,
Eubalaena glacialis.

McLeod, BA, MW Brown, MJ Moore, W Stevens, SH Barkham, M Barkham and BN White (2008)
Bowhead whales, and not right whales, were the primary target of 16th - 17th-century Basque whalers
in the western North Atlantic. Arctic, 61(1): 61-75.

McLeod, BA (2008) Red tiles and baleen: Basque whalers on the coast of Labrador. Newfoundland
Quarterly, 100(4): 16-19, 34-35.

Frasier TR, BA McLeod, RM Bower, MW Brown, and BN White (2007) Right whales past and present as
revealed by their genes. In: The Urban Whale: North Atlantic Right Whales at the Crossroads (Kraus SD,
Rolland RR, eds.). Harvard University Press, pp. 200-231.

McLeod BA, TR Frasier, and BN White (2006) Reply to the comment by Romero and Kannada on
"Genetic analysis of 16th-century whale bones prompts a revision of the impact of Basque whaling on
right and bowhead whales in the western North Atlantic". Canadian Journal of Zoology, 84, 1066-1069.

McLeod, BA (2005) Is major whaling of right whales an urban legend? Right Whale Research News,
13:3,8.

Rastogi T, MW Brown, BA McLeod, TR Frasier, R Grenier, SL Cumbaa, J Nadarajah, and BN White
(2004) Genetic analysis of 16th century whale bones prompts a revision of the impact of Basque whaling
on right and bowhead whales in the western North Atlantic. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 82, 1647-1654.

Courses Taught (previously/currently)

BIOL388: Dolphin and Whale Biology and Conservation in Tropical Asia, Summer Field Course,
Trent University
BIOL415H: Biology of Marine Mammals, Trent University
FRSC310H: Trends in Forensic Techniques, Trent University

Contact