Dissolving Stock Discreteness With Satellite Tracking: Bowhead Whales in Baffin Bay

Heide‐Jørgensen, M. P.; Laidre, Kristin L.; Jensen, Mikkel Villum; Dueck, L.; Postma, Lianne D.

doi:10.1111/j.1748-7692.2006.00004.x

Cited by 88 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…During the spring, adult bowhead whales appear in Disko Bay, where intensive feeding occurs for several weeks before moving across to the southern extent of the North Water (Heide-Jørgensen et al 2006). Larger whales may forgo ice cover in favour of areas that concentrate zooplankton at depth.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus seasonal selection of sea ice

Ferguson¹,

Dueck²,

Loseto³

et al. 2010

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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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.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus seasonal selection of sea ice

Ferguson¹,

Dueck²,

Loseto³

et al. 2010

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…When foraging at the surface, balaenid whales have been reported to swim with mean speeds of 1.1 -2.5 m s 21 (Mayo et al 2001;Baumgartner & Mate 2003;Werth 2004), which is comparable to their migration speeds (Heide-Jørgensen et al 2006). Owing to lack of data, these speeds have been presumed to be maintained by whales feeding under water (Baumgartner & Mate 2003;Werth 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Behaviour and kinematics of continuous ram filtration in bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus)

et al. 2009

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Balaenid whales perform long breath-hold foraging dives despite a high drag from their ram filtration of zooplankton. To maximize the volume of prey acquired in a dive with limited oxygen supplies, balaenids must either filter feed only occasionally when prey density is particularly high, or they must swim at slow speeds while filtering to reduce drag and oxygen consumption. Using digital tags with three-axis accelerometers, we studied bowhead whales feeding off West Greenland and present here, to our knowledge, the first detailed data on the kinematics and swimming behaviour of a balaenid whale filter feeding at depth. Bowhead whales employ a continuous fluking gait throughout the bottom phase of foraging dives, moving at very slow speeds (less than 1 m s 21 ), allowing them to filter feed continuously at depth. Despite the slow speeds, the large mouth aperture provides a water filtration rate of approximately 3 m 3 s 21 , amounting to some 2000 tonnes of water and prey filtered per dive. We conclude that a food niche of dense, slow-moving zooplankton prey has led balaenids to evolve locomotor and filtering systems adapted to work against a high drag at swimming speeds of less than 0.07 body length s 21 using a continuous fluking gait very different from that of nekton-feeding, aquatic predators.

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“…Tracking animals in the marine environment is especially challenging as animals can move across great distances. Satellite telemetry has the ability to provide real-time insight into animal movements, including the large seasonal migrations of marine megavertebrates (Hart & Hyrenbach 2009, Block et al 2011, Jeffers & Godley 2016, identify stock connectivity (Bonfil et al 2005, Heide-Jørgensen & Laidre 2006, Zerbini et al 2006 and guide the implementation of marine protected areas (Scott et al 2012, Revuelta et al 2015 and time-area closures (Shillinger et al 2008). Nevertheless, satellite telemetry is expensive and can entail direct costs to the study animals, and therefore, sample size is often limited (Wilson & McMahon 2006, Godley et al 2008.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Satellite tracking and stable isotope analysis highlight differential recruitment among foraging areas in green turtles

Bradshaw¹,

Broderick²,

Carreras³

et al. 2017

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Identifying links between breeding and non-breeding sites in migratory animals is an important step in understanding their ecology. Recognising the relative importance of foraging areas and ascertaining site-specific levels of recruitment can provide fundamental and applied insights. Here, satellite telemetry and the stable isotope ratios (δ 13 C, δ 15 N and δ 34 S) of 230 green turtles Chelonia mydas from a regionally important rookery in northern Cyprus were employed to evaluate the relative importance of 4 foraging areas. A preliminary analysis of stable isotope ratios suggested that a major foraging area had been missed through satellite telemetry as a large proportion of turtles had isotope ratios that did not correspond to sites previously identified. Stable isotope ratios were then employed to select 5 turtles to be fitted with platform terminal transmitters in 2015. All 5 turtles were subsequently tracked to the same location, Lake Bardawil in Egypt. Serially collected tissue samples from 45 females, ranging over 2 to 4 breeding seasons, suggested that foraging site fidelity was very common, with 82% of females exhibiting extremely high temporal consistency in isotope ratios. Quantifying fidelity allowed an evaluation of foraging areaspecific contributions to each breeding cohort over the past 2 decades and demonstrated that recruitment was unequal among sites, and dynamic over time, with Egypt now currently the major contributor to the nesting aggregation. This work demonstrates the utility of stable isotope analysis to elucidate the spatial ecology of cryptic taxa and illustrates how more robust baselines can be assembled against which to measure the success of future marine conservation initiatives.

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Dissolving Stock Discreteness With Satellite Tracking: Bowhead Whales in Baffin Bay

Cited by 88 publications

References 16 publications

Bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus seasonal selection of sea ice

Bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus seasonal selection of sea ice

Behaviour and kinematics of continuous ram filtration in bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus)

Satellite tracking and stable isotope analysis highlight differential recruitment among foraging areas in green turtles

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