Bowhead whales feed on plankton concentrated by estuarine and tidal currents in Academy Bay, Sea of Okhotsk

Rogachev, K. A.; Carmack, Eddy C.; Foreman, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.csr.2008.04.014

Cited by 44 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The eddy had a radius of 8 km and was associated with elevated concentrations of zooplankton, represented mainly by C. glacialis and M. longa. The aggregation of C. glacialis due to anticyclonic eddy circulation has also been observed in Academy Bay in the Sea of Okhotsk (Rogachev et al 2008). Another eddy-like structure, with a cold-water core, was observed in the southern FZ sections.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Plankton patchiness in the Polar Front region of the West Spitsbergen Shelf

Trudnowska¹,

Głuchowska²,

Beszczynska-Möller³

et al. 2016

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Plankton patchiness in the Polar Front region of the West Spitsbergen Shelf

Trudnowska¹,

Głuchowska²,

Beszczynska-Möller³

et al. 2016

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…A likely source of these prey is the Return Atlantic Current running in deeper waters just off the shelf (cf. Hirsche and Kwasniewski 1997), advecting copepods onto the shelf area of the NEW from the more productive eastern part of the Fram Strait (Hirsche et al 2006;Falk-Petersen et al 2015), a phenomenon observed in other shallow bowhead whale feeding areas (Rogachev et al 2008;Ashjian et al 2010;Walkusz et al 2012;Heide-Jørgensen et al 2013).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

A hidden getaway for bowhead whales in the Greenland Sea

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The critically endangered Spitsbergen stock of bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) seems to be increasing. However, research effort has also been increasing confounding a firm conclusion. A systematic aerial survey for walrus (Odobaenus rosmarus), applying distance sampling methodology in part of the Northeast Water Polynya (NEW), revealed a 'bycatch' of several observations of bowhead whales, which resulted in an estimated abundance of 102 (95 % CI 32-329) individuals. This is the largest abundance of bowhead whales reported from the Greenland Sea since the days of whaling in the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries. The NEW was inaccessible to vessels during the whaling period because of heavy pack ice, and it is only recently that researchers have visited this area; thus only a few sightings of bowhead whales within the NEW exist prior to the survey in 2009. The NEW may nevertheless be one of the most important summering grounds for the Spitsbergen stock, and the whales may benefit from advection of calanoid copepods from the productive deep basins along the coast of Svalbard east of the NEW. This discovery provides renewed hope for the Spitsbergen stock of bowhead whales that until now has shown only inconclusive signs of recovery despite more than 100 years of protection from whaling.

show abstract

“…These productive sites attract a large grazing zooplankton biomass (Sakshaug 1997), among which are the lipid-rich copepods and euphausiids (Percy & Fife 1980, Falk-Petersen et al 1998) that are preyed on by bowhead whales (Marquette 1986, Lowry 1993. Bowhead whales have been observed feeding at the sea surface, within the water column, and benthically (Rogachev et al 2008). Prey density is unlikely the key feature controlling migration patterns since bowhead whales abandon highly productive areas in the Bering Sea and West Greenland during the peak spring plankton bloom to move into less productive Beaufort Sea and Arctic Archipelago, respectively (Lowry 1993).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus seasonal selection of sea ice

Ferguson¹,

Dueck²,

Loseto³

et al. 2010

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Highly mobile large-bodied organisms are adapted to seasonal variation associated with polar environments. We used satellite tracking data from 27 bowhead whales Balaena mysticetus of the Eastern Canada-West Greenland population to test for movement and habitat selection of the highly variable sea ice landscape that encompasses near-complete coverage in winter to nearcomplete absence in summer. We demarcated 2 bowhead whale seasons based on movement behaviour identified from inflection points of polynomial regression analysis of movement rate: winter (28 December to 15 March, 16.6 ± 2.65 km d ). Resource selection functions were used to evaluate bowhead whale seasonal selection of sea ice landscape (coverage, thickness, and floe size). Movement and habitat use differed between Nunavut tagging sites likely as a consequence of sexual and reproductive segregation. Whales selected relatively low ice coverage, thin ice, and small floe areas in winter close to the maximum ice extent, presumably to reduce risk of ice entrapment while remaining within ice. In contrast, whales selected high ice coverage, thick ice, and large floe size areas in summer, presumably to reduce risk of killer whale predation while providing enriched feeding opportunities. Our results indicate that this largebodied animal can moderate use of the large-scale fluctuations in seasonal sea ice typical of polar environments.

show abstract

Bowhead whales feed on plankton concentrated by estuarine and tidal currents in Academy Bay, Sea of Okhotsk

Cited by 44 publications

References 26 publications

Plankton patchiness in the Polar Front region of the West Spitsbergen Shelf

Plankton patchiness in the Polar Front region of the West Spitsbergen Shelf

A hidden getaway for bowhead whales in the Greenland Sea

Bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus seasonal selection of sea ice

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About