An Introduction to the Biology of Northern Krill (Meganyctiphanes norvegica Sars)

Tarling, Geraint A.; Ensor, Natalie S.; Fregin, Torsten; Goodall‐Copestake, William P.; Fretwell, Peter T.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-381308-4.00001-7

Cited by 24 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 145 publications

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“…The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007) and the European Environmental Agency (EEA 2008) recently issued a warning about the impact of increasing temperature on many ecological factors, including changes in phytoplankton composition, timing of blooms and the northward boundary shifts of warm-water species. This might particularly affect the distribution of the main fin whale prey, Meganyctiphanes norvegica, which is located at the southern limit of its ecological tolerance in the western Mediterranean Sea (Tarling et al 2010). The development of robust tools to trace the distribution of the fin whale in its changing favourable habitat at the scale of the western Mediterranean Basin is therefore of primary importance to improve our understanding of the whale's ecology.…”

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confidence: 99%

Potential feeding habitat of fin whales in the western Mediterranean Sea: an environmental niche model

Druon¹,

Panigada²,

David³

et al. 2012

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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The development of synoptic tools is required to derive the potential habitat of fin whales Balaenoptera physalus on a large-scale basis in the Mediterranean Sea, as the species has a largely unknown distribution and is at high risk of ship strike. We propose a foraging habitat model for fin whales in the western Mediterranean Sea relying on species ecology for the choice of predictors. The selected environmental variables are direct predictors and resource predictors available at daily and basin scales. Feeding habitat was determined mainly from the simultaneous occurrence of large oceanic fronts of satellite-derived sea-surface chlorophyll content (chl a) and temperature (SST). A specific range of surface chl a content (0.11 to 0.39 mg m −3) and a minimum water depth (92 m) were also identified to be important regional criteria. Daily maps were calibrated and evaluated against independent sets of fin whale sightings (presence data only). Specific chl a fronts represented the main predictor of feeding environment; therefore, derived habitat is a potential, rather than effective, habitat, but is functionally linked to a proxy of its resource (chl a production of fronts). The model performs well, with 80% of the presence data < 9.7 km from the predicted potential habitat. The computed monthly, seasonal and annual maps of potential feeding habitat from 2000 to 2010 correlate, for the most part, with current knowledge on fin whale ecology. Overall, fin whale potential habitat occurs frequently during summer in dynamic areas of the general circulation, and is substantially more spread over the basin in winter. However, the results also displayed high year-to-year variations (40 to 50%), which are essential to consider when assessing migration patterns and recommending protection and conservation measures.KEY WORDS: Balaenoptera physalus · Potential habitat · Feeding · Mediterranean Sea · Satellite data · Fronts · Chlorophyll a · Environmental niche model Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherMar Ecol Prog Ser 464: [289][290][291][292][293][294][295][296][297][298][299][300][301][302][303][304][305][306] 2012 eral anthropogenic threats affect the Mediterranean fin whale population, with vessel strikes being one of the main causes of human-induced mortality (Panigada et al. 2006). The risk of a vessel strike is particularly severe in areas of heavy maritime traffic, such as the PELAGOS Sanctuary (ACCOBAMS 2006, David et al. 2011, where fin whales tend to concentrate in high numbers during the summer months (Gannier 1997, 2002, Notarbartolo di Sciara et al. 2003, Panigada et al. 2005, Würtz 2010. The PELAGOS Sanctuary is the first International Marine Protected Area (MPA) created in the high seas (Hoyt 2005) that aims at integrating human activities with cetacean conservation (Notarbartolo di Sciara 2007). While shipping noise is one source of disturbance, seismic airguns used for oil and gas exploration can also deter fin whales from feeding or breeding grounds (Cas...

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confidence: 99%

Potential feeding habitat of fin whales in the western Mediterranean Sea: an environmental niche model

Druon¹,

Panigada²,

David³

et al. 2012

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…Euphausiids and pandalids are well known for their vertical migration that can span 100s or even 1000s of meters in a day (Barr 1970, Hudon et al 1993, Tarling et al 2010. Seasonal horizontal migration has been described in the commercially important Pandalus borealis in the Gulf of Maine, but in this case the migration is an onshore-offshore movement (Apollonio et al 1986).…”

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It takes guts to locate elusive crustacean prey

Lasley-Rasher

Brady²,

Smith³

et al. 2015

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…Although, many of these organisms (e.g., euphausiids, Tarling et al, 2010) are not well-sampled by the small tow-nets used for copepods, data are available from two other sources. One is as a by-product of young fish surveys with larger and faster nets and also actual surveys conducted on jelly-fish in May and June each year from 1994 to 2009, between 53.00 and 54.25 • N, 4.75 to about 6.25 • W-a region that includes the main part of the WIS but also mixed waters close to the Irish coast.…”

Section: Observations Of Zooplanktonic Predatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the State of the Pelagic Habitat: A Case Study of Plankton and Its Environment in the Western Irish Sea

2016

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Much work had been undertaken on tracking change in the condition of marine pelagic ecosystems and on identifying regime shifts. However, it is also necessary to relate change to states of good ecosystem health or what the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) calls "Good Environmental Status" (GES). Drawing on existing scientific and legislative principles, including those of OSPAR's "Strategy to Combat Eutrophication," we propose a framework for assessing the status of what the MSFD calls the "pelagic habitat" in temperate coastal seas. The framework uses knowledge of local ecohydrodynamic conditions, especially those relating to the stratification and optical environment, to guide expectations of what would be recognized as healthy in terms of ecosystem "organization" and "vigor." We apply this framework to the seasonally stratified regime of the Western Irish Sea, drawing on published and new work on stratification, nutrient, and phytoplankton seasonal cycles, zooplankton, and the implications of plankton community structure and production for higher trophic levels. We conclude that, despite human pressures including nutrient enrichment, and the food-web effects of fisheries, the pelagic ecosystem here is in GES, and hence may be used as a reference for the "Plankton Index" method of tracking change in state space in seasonally stratified waters.

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An Introduction to the Biology of Northern Krill (Meganyctiphanes norvegica Sars)

Cited by 24 publications

References 145 publications

Potential feeding habitat of fin whales in the western Mediterranean Sea: an environmental niche model

Potential feeding habitat of fin whales in the western Mediterranean Sea: an environmental niche model

It takes guts to locate elusive crustacean prey

Assessing the State of the Pelagic Habitat: A Case Study of Plankton and Its Environment in the Western Irish Sea

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