Movements and site fidelity of killer whales (Orcinus orca) relative to seasonal and long-term shifts in herring (Clupea harengus) distribution

Abstract

. (2017) Movements and site fidelity of killer whales (Orcinus orca) relative to seasonal and long-term shifts in herring (Clupea harengus) distribution. Marine Biology, 164 (8). Article:159.Downloaded from: http://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/3080/ Usage of any items from the University of Cumbria's institutional repository 'Insight' must conform to the following fair usage guidelines.Any item and its associated metadata held in the University of Cumbria's institutional repository Insight (unless stated otherwise on the metadata record) may be copied, displayed or performed, and stored in line with the JISC fair dealing guidelines (available here) for educational and not-for-profit activities provided that• the authors, title and full bibliographic details of the item are cited clearly when any part of the work is referred to verbally or in the written form• a hyperlink/URL to the original Insight record of that item is included in any citations of the work • the content is not changed in any way• all files required for usage of the item are kept together with the main item file. You may not• sell any part of an item• refer to any part of an item without citation • amend any item or contextualise it in a way that will impugn the creator's reputation• remove or alter the copyright statement on an item.The full policy can be found here. Alternatively contact the University of Cumbria Repository Editor by emailing insight@cumbria.ac.uk. Predators specialising on migratory prey that frequently change migration route 18 face the challenge of finding prey with an unpredictable distribution. Here, we 19 used photo-identification data to investigate whether killer whales observed in 20 herring overwintering and spawning grounds off Iceland follow herring year-21 round, as previously proposed, and have the ability to adapt to long-term changes 22 in herring distribution. Of 327 identified whales seen more than once, 45% were 23 seen in both grounds, and were thus presumed herring-specialists, likely following 24 herring year-round, while others were only seen on one of the grounds, possibly 25 following herring to unsampled grounds or moving to other locations and 26 exploiting different prey. High seasonal site fidelity to herring grounds, long-term 27 site fidelity to herring spawning grounds, and matches of individual whales 28 between past and recently occupied herring overwintering grounds showed an 29 ability to adapt to long-term changes in prey distribution as well as diversity of 30 movement patterns which are maintained over time, likely as socially-learnt 31traditions. Such population structuring shows that the movement patterns and 32 foraging ecology of herring-eating killer whales are more complex than previously 33 assumed and must be taken into account in future population assessments. 34Identifying the factors driving these differences in movements and resource use 35 will be relevant towards our understanding of how prey predictability may drive 36 specialization in this and other top predator speci...

Dugong (Dugong dugon) movements and habitat use in a coral reef lagoonal ecosystem

“…Once released, they undertook trips across the lagoons, but eventually returned to their capture locations, suggesting site fidelity as observed in manatees (e.g. Deutsch et al 2003) and other species of marine megafauna such as sea turtles (González Carman et al 2016), cetaceans (Samarra et al 2017) and sharks (Doherty et al 2017). The tracking data therefore reinforce the ecological importance of the high dugong density areas identified during the aerial surveys (Cleguer et al 2015b).…”

A review of Canadian Arctic killer whale (Orcinus orca) ecology

“…Matthews, personal observation, 2013). It is possible that fish-eating killer whales seasonally shift their strategy to take advantage of energetically rich marine mammal resources in the Canadian Arctic, as has been recorded in Iceland (Samarra et al 2017) and Greenland (Pedro et al 2017). It is also possible that dietary specialization occurs on certain marine mammals (e.g., specialization on narwhal).…”

False‐negative detections from environmental DNA collected in the presence of large numbers of killer whales (Orcinus orca)

“…around Vestmannaeyjar, South Iceland, in calm weather conditions, Beaufort seastate 2 ( Figure 1a). This area is part of the home range of a population of killer whales which predominantly predate on the Icelandic summer-spawning stock of Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus (Samarra et al, 2017). During a killer whale encounter, a 1,080 ml seawater sample was collected from the sea surface from a small rigid inflatable boat (RIB) by hand, using sterilized containers (6 × 180 ml) and clean disposable nitrile gloves.…”