DOES AN ENZYME-LINKED IMMUNOSORBENT ASSAY (ELISA) DETECT PROGESTERONE IN BLUBBER FROM PREGNANT HUMPBACK WHALES (MEGAPTERA NOVAEANGLIA)?
Nicole Z. Jensen1, Sherry L. Tamone2, Elizabeth A. Mathews2 1 University of Alaska Southeast, REU Summer 2009 student 2 REU Mentor, Associate Professor, Department of Natural Sciences, University of Alaska SE ABSTRACT Birth rates and pregnancy status are important tools for monitoring the population dynamics of mammals. Progesterone, an important reproductive hormone, is found in high concentrations during gestation in placental mammals and has recently been shown to be detectable in the blubber of whales. We set out to measure progesterone levels in blubber from humpback whales with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Blubber samples (n=36) were collected by a colleague from living, individually identified humpback whales in the Hawaiian breeding grounds with a biopsy dart system. A whale’s gender was determined genetically from skin portions of each biopsy; 14 were from females. Using published life history data (e.g., age of first pregnancy, mean birth interval, etc.) for
