Foraging ecology of ringed seals (Pusa hispida), beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) and narwhals (Monodon monoceros) in the Canadian High Arctic determined by stomach content and stable isotope analysis

Matley, Jordan K.; Fisk, Aaron T.; Dick, Terry A.

doi:10.3402/polar.v34.24295

Cited by 29 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…) and Resolute (Matley et al. ). At lower latitudes, beluga whales now consume other pelagic fish species including Capelin and Sand lance near Pangnirtung ( i.e., Cumberland Sound; Marcoux et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latitudinal variation in ecological opportunity and intraspecific competition indicates differences in niche variability and diet specialization of Arctic marine predators

Yurkowski

Ferguson

Choy

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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Individual specialization (IS), where individuals within populations irrespective of age, sex, and body size are either specialized or generalized in terms of resource use, has implications on ecological niches and food web structure. Niche size and degree of IS of near‐top trophic‐level marine predators have been little studied in polar regions or with latitude. We quantified the large‐scale latitudinal variation of population‐ and individual‐level niche size and IS in ringed seals (Pusa hispida) and beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis on 379 paired ringed seal liver and muscle samples and 124 paired beluga skin and muscle samples from eight locations ranging from the low to high Arctic. We characterized both within‐ and between‐individual variation in predator niche size at each location as well as accounting for spatial differences in the isotopic ranges of potential prey. Total isotopic niche width (TINW) for populations of ringed seals and beluga decreased with increasing latitude. Higher TINW values were associated with greater ecological opportunity (i.e., prey diversity) in the prey fish community which mainly consists of Capelin (Mallotus villosus) and Sand lance (Ammodytes sp.) at lower latitudes and Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) at high latitudes. In beluga, their dietary consistency between tissues also known as the within‐individual component (WIC) increased in a near 1:1 ratio with TINW (slope = 0.84), suggesting dietary generalization, whereas the slope (0.18) of WIC relative to TINW in ringed seals indicated a high degree of individual specialization in ringed seal populations with higher TINWs. Our findings highlight the differences in TINW and level of IS for ringed seals and beluga relative to latitude as a likely response to large‐scale spatial variation in ecological opportunity, suggesting species‐specific variation in dietary plasticity to spatial differences in prey resources and environmental conditions in a rapidly changing ecosystem.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Latitudinal variation in ecological opportunity and intraspecific competition indicates differences in niche variability and diet specialization of Arctic marine predators

Yurkowski

Ferguson

Choy

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Arctic cod are considered a semi-pelagic species as young are found in the pelagic zone, but adults are found near the bottom (Falk-Petersen et al 1986, Majewski et al 2016. Belugas in the Canadian High Arctic typically select larger Arctic cod as prey (~180 to 200 mm) (Matley et al 2015), and prey of this size class are typically found at depths of 200 to 400 m (FalkPetersen et al 1986, Christiansen et al 2012, Hauser et al 2015, Majewski et al 2016. Capelin, on the other hand, are found in shallower waters, typically from 50 to 100 m in the Gulf of Alaska (Brown 2002), and capelin found in stomachs of belugas from Alaska measured an average of 124 mm in length (Quakenbush et al 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A switch from Arctic cod to capelin is likely inconsequential for the energy budget of beluga whales, as both capelin and Arctic cod have high caloric values (Hop & Gjøsaeter 2013); however, the energetic expense of capturing and handling a capelin versus an Arctic cod is unknown. Generally, belugas seem to target larger, deeper Arctic cod and smaller, shallower capelin (Falk-Petersen et al 1986, Brown 2002, Matley et al 2015, Quakenbush et al 2015. Overall, deeper dives to catch cod are energetically more expensive, but the payoff is large since these cod are larger in size, whereas catching smaller capelin in shallow waters requires a lower energy input, but results in a lower payoff as the fish are smaller.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Arctic cod B. saida tends to dominate diet for belugas from the eastern Beaufort Sea (Loseto et al 2009, Quakenbush et al 2015 and the Canadian High Arctic (Matley et al 2015). Pacific herring Clupea pallasii, tomcod Microgadus tomcod (Huntington & The Communities of Buckland, Elim, Koyuk, Point Lay and Shaktoolik 1999), rainbow smelt Osmerus mordax, Arctic cod B. saida, and saffron cod Eleginus gracilis are common dietary items for different beluga stocks from Alaska (Quakenbush et al 2015), while halibut R. hippoglossoides, shrimp Pandalus borealis, and redfish Sebastes marinus were found in beluga stomachs from Greenland whales (Heide-Jør-gensen & Teilmann 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A shift in foraging behaviour of beluga whales Delphinapterus leucas from the threatened Cumberland Sound population may reflect a changing Arctic food web

Watt¹,

Orr²,

Ferguson³

2016

Endang. Species. Res.

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“…For many species, predator feeding information is often derived from sampling stomach contents (i.e., stomach content data). Stomach content analysis is ubiquitously used in studies of fish diets, as well as for seabirds (Montalti and Ruben Coria 1993), jellyfish (Barz and Hirche 2007;Jaspers et al 2015), sea turtles (Colman et al 2014;Williams et al 2014), and marine mammals (Fernandez et al 2014;Matley et al 2015). Analysis of stomach content data collected involves two distinct components: (i) measuring total prey amounts in the stomach (total stomach contents' mass or number; Elliott and Persson 1978) and (ii) calculating the fraction of total prey that consists of individual prey types (diet fractions).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel method to estimate prey contributions to predator diets

Moriarty

Essington

Ward

2017

Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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Stomach content data are frequently used to characterize predator feeding habits, often by describing the proportional contribution by mass or number of each prey type (diet fractions). These data pose several statistical challenges for analysis and estimation that have hindered our ability to create quantitative diet fraction estimates from stomach content data. To address these challenges, we developed a novel, likelihood-based mixture model to quantitatively estimate diet fractions. Simulation testing indicated that estimated diet fractions from the mixture model were more precise than those estimated either from a (stomach mass) weighted mean or the sample mean and were more accurate than a sample mean. Additionally, we applied the mixture model, a weighted mean, and sample mean to stomach content data for multiple types of predators. For three of four of these data sets, the mixture model demonstrated higher precision than and similar accuracy to a weighted mean and similar precision and better accuracy than a sample mean. The mixture model represents an important step in advancing statistical methods to address the challenges of stomach content data. Résumé :Des données sur le contenu stomacal sont fréquemment utilisées pour caractériser les habitudes d'alimentation de prédateurs, bien souvent en décrivant la proportion de la contribution, en poids ou en nombre, de chaque type de proies (fractions du régime alimentaire). Ces données posent plusieurs problèmes statistiques pour l'analyse et l'estimation qui ont limité la capacité d'établir des estimations quantitatives des fractions du régime alimentaire à partir de données sur le contenu stomacal. Dans le but de régler ces problèmes, nous avons mis au point un nouveau modèle de mélange reposant sur la probabilité pour estimer les fractions du régime alimentaire de manière quantitative. Des essais de simulation indiquent que les fractions du régime alimentaire estimées à l'aide du modèle de mélange sont plus précises que les fractions estimées à partir d'une moyenne pondérée (de la masse stomacale) ou de la moyenne de l'échantillon, et sont plus exactes qu'une moyenne d'échantillon. Nous avons en outre appliqué le modèle de mélange, une moyenne pondérée et une moyenne d'échantillon aux données sur le contenu stomacal pour différents types de prédateurs. Pour trois ensembles de données sur quatre, le modèle de mélange présente une plus grande précision et une exactitude semblable à une moyenne pondérée, et une précision semblable et une plus grande exactitude qu'une moyenne d'échantillon. Le modèle de mélange représente une importante étape dans l'établissement de méthodes statistiques permettant de surmonter les difficultés que posent les données sur le contenu stomacal. [Traduit par la Rédaction]

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Foraging ecology of ringed seals (Pusa hispida), beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) and narwhals (Monodon monoceros) in the Canadian High Arctic determined by stomach content and stable isotope analysis

Cited by 29 publications

References 53 publications

Latitudinal variation in ecological opportunity and intraspecific competition indicates differences in niche variability and diet specialization of Arctic marine predators

Latitudinal variation in ecological opportunity and intraspecific competition indicates differences in niche variability and diet specialization of Arctic marine predators

A shift in foraging behaviour of beluga whales Delphinapterus leucas from the threatened Cumberland Sound population may reflect a changing Arctic food web

A novel method to estimate prey contributions to predator diets

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