Comparison of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in muscle and epidermis of subsistence-harvested bowhead, beluga and gray whales, Dehn, L.-A.

Whale samples (muscle and epidermis) were obtained during Native subsistence harvests in the Alaskan and Russian Arctic.
Bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) tissues were collected between 1997 and 2006 during either spring or fall migration in the
communities of Barrow, Kaktovik, and Savoonga, Alaska. Further, the North Slope Borough, Department of Wildlife Management in
Barrow, Alaska made a sample of ancient bowhead whale skin available to this study. The sample was obtained from an ancient
ice-cellar in Gambell, Alaska in 2005. Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) tissues were sampled from 1996 to 1999 in the communities
of Point Lay, Wainwright, Point Hope, Barrow and Kaktovik. Samples of subsistence-harvested gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus)
were collected in 2001 in Lorino and Lavrentiya, Chukotka, Russia. Samples were also obtained from gray whales stranded along the
California coast during an unusual mortality event in 1999 and 2000. These datasets were archived as part of the North Pacific Research Board legacy project recovery effort undertaken by Axiom Data Science and NPRB in 2025. The goal of the recovery effort was to assess the NPRB-funded data projects from 2002 to 2014 and archive final data packages that were ready for publication to increase long-term accessibility and discoverability. Data packages were archived as is given limited funding and resources.