[MARMAM] Bering Land Bridge and Gray Whale Populations

[tmorse at teleport.com]

I am looking for information on the effect of geological/oceanographic 
factors on Pacific gray whale populations, especially how they were 
impacted by and responded to loss of access to arctic feeding grounds due 
to the Bering land bridge. For instance, did the Pacific population undergo 
repeated bottlenecks due to the loss of the feeding grounds, or were they 
able to manage on resources in the northern Pacific ocean? (Secondarily, I 
am interested in how the closing of the Central American seaway affected 
the subsequent evolution of Atlantic and Pacific gray whales.)

I searched Google Scholar, Ebsco Host (which I have access to courtesy of 
my public library), Wikipedia, and did a general web search with Google, 
using search terms such as "eschrichtius biogeography" and "eschrichtius 
land bridge."  So far, the only reference I have located is an article by 
Victor Scheffer in The Bering Land Bridge, edited by David M. Hopkins, 
which I have on order but have not yet seen. Can anyone suggest other 
relevant references?

Thank you,
Terry Morse
935 SW 10th St. #6
Newport, Oregon 97365
tmorse at teleport.com
http://home.teleport.com/~tmorse/index.html
*
"The grand leap of the whale up the Fall of Niagara is esteemed, by all who 
have seen it, as one of the finest spectacles in nature." - - Benjamin 
Franklin, satiric 1765 letter to the editor of a London newspaper.
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