Large-scale sexual segregation of bowhead whales

Heide‐Jørgensen, M. P.; Laidre, Kristin L.; Wiig, Øystein; Postma, Lianne D.; Dueck, L.; Bachmann, Lutz

doi:10.3354/esr00315

Cited by 39 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Genetic analysis of skin biopsies from bowhead whales in Disko Bay revealed a large proportion of females (81%) similar to those found in previous studies (Heide-Jørgensen et al, 2010;Wiig et al, 2011;Rekdal et al, 2015). The explanation for the sex segregation remains unresolved although it has been suggested that Disko Bay is used by post-lactating, pregnant, or resting females to regain fat deposits that are otherwise more energetically demanding to acquire in other areas (Heide-Jørgensen et al, 2010). The fact that the data in this study are derived mainly from adult females is important when interpreting the results since juvenile bowhead whales may exhibit different dive and foraging behaviour.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

“…However, binned data allowed for long-term data collection from areas where it would otherwise be impossible to gather information on diving behaviour of bowhead whales. Genetic analysis of skin biopsies from bowhead whales in Disko Bay revealed a large proportion of females (81%) similar to those found in previous studies (Heide-Jørgensen et al, 2010;Wiig et al, 2011;Rekdal et al, 2015). The explanation for the sex segregation remains unresolved although it has been suggested that Disko Bay is used by post-lactating, pregnant, or resting females to regain fat deposits that are otherwise more energetically demanding to acquire in other areas (Heide-Jørgensen et al, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

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Identification of Potential Foraging Areas for Bowhead Whales in Baffin Bay and Adjacent Waters

Nielsen¹,

Laidre²,

Larsen³

et al. 2015

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. The bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) is the Arctic's largest and most dependent predator on zooplankton; however, knowledge about its important foraging areas in Baffin Bay and adjacent waters is limited. Data on movement, horizontal velocity (ms Mots clés : alimentation; baleine boréale; Balaena mysticetus; télémesure satellitaire; SLTDR; baie de Baffin; changement climatique Traduit pour la revue Arctic par Nicole Giguère.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 62%

Identification of Potential Foraging Areas for Bowhead Whales in Baffin Bay and Adjacent Waters

Nielsen¹,

Laidre²,

Larsen³

et al. 2015

ARCTIC

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“…Sex of the whales was determined from skin biopsies collected simultaneously with the instrumentation following genetic methods described in [1].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Why bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus), primarily females without calves, spend time in Disko Bay, West Greenland in spring [1][2][3] is unknown. High vocalization rates suggest the area is a mating ground [4]; however, there are few males suggesting that there may be other explanations for whales spending time there.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Winter and spring diving behavior of bowhead whales relative to prey

et al. 2013

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Background: Little is known about bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) foraging behavior and what concentrations of prey are required to balance the energetic trade-offs of feeding. We used satellite telemetry, archival depth recorders, and water column echo sounding data to study bowhead whale diving behavior relative to prey depth and concentration in Disko Bay, West Greenland. Results: Between March and May 2008 to 2011, nine bowhead whales were tagged in Disko Bay, West Greenland with instruments that collected data on location and diving over a period of 1 to 33 days. The frequency of U-dives (presumed to be foraging dives) was low during winter months but more than doubled in spring concurrent with a decrease in diving depth. The mean speed of the horizontal bottom phase of the U-dives was 0.9 ms -1 and on average, whales spent 37% of their time at the bottom phase of the dive. In March, bowhead whales presumably fed on copepods (Calanus spp.) close to the seabed (between 100 and 400 m). In April and May, after the copepods ascended to shallower depths, bowhead whales also dove to shallower depths (approximately 30 m) more often. However, echo sounding surveys in the vicinity of feeding whales in early May indicated that patches of copepods could still be found close to the seabed. Conclusions: There was a marked change in diving behavior from winter through spring and this was likely in response to the changes in sea ice conditions, primary production and potential copepod abundance in the upper part of the water column. Depth and duration of dives changed significantly during this period; however, other dive parameters (for example the proportion of time spent feeding on the bottom of U-dives) remained fairly constant indicating a constant feeding effort. Bowhead whales target copepods at or close to the seabed in winter months in Disko Bay and continue feeding on copepods when they migrate to the surface. However, bowhead whales leave West Greenland before peak abundance of copepods occurs at the surface.

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“…For example, prey densities or sizes required for feeding by adult males may be quite different than for reproductive females, and these differences can drive changes in the spatial distribution of the population (e.g. Le Boeuf et al 2000, Engelhaupt et al 2009, Heide-Jørgensen et al 2010.…”

Section: Reproductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond correlation: integrating environmentally and behaviourally mediated processes in models of marine mammal distributions

Palacios¹,

Baumgartner²,

Laidre³

et al. 2013

Endang. Species. Res.

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Marine species distribution modeling has seen explosive growth in recent years, and the Endangered Species Research Theme Section entitled 'Beyond marine mammal habitat modeling: applications for ecology and conservation' demonstrates that the field of marine mammalogy has been no exception. For the past decade, marine mammal ecologists have been developing habitat models with increasing proficiency and sophistication. However, these efforts have largely focused on correlative analyses of observed species−environment associations, which often have low explanatory power due to the absence of critical, but unaccounted for processes that are important drivers of animal distributions. Here we provide an overview of these processes, advocate for directed studies (e.g. tagging, prey sampling, focal follows, physiological assessment) to address how the processes influence species' distributions, and challenge the modeling community to incorporate these results into their efforts. We also identify a progression of modeling stages from correlative to confirmatory to mechanistic that should lead us to formulate increasingly robust and accurate predictions of species distributions rooted in greater ecological understanding. Given the on-going risks to marine mammals from human activities and climate change, such models are needed for conservation and management now more than ever. FREE REE ACCESS CCESS Contribution to the Theme Section 'Beyond marine mammal habitat modeling'Endang Species Res 22: 191-203, 2013 ecology and conservation' clearly demonstrate that the marine mammal research community has embraced these tools, and is applying them with increasing proficiency and sophistication (Gregr et al. 2013, this Theme Section).Marine mammal habitat models typically predict the spatial distribution or abundance of a species based on correlations between animal observations and attributes of the physical marine environment (e.g. seafloor terrain, sea surface temperature, proximity to the ice edge) or proxies of dynamic oceanographic processes that may directly or indirectly aggregate prey (Redfern et al. 2006). This approach often makes 2 implicit assumptions with regard to the environmental variables: (1) they adequately capture the underlying environmental gradients to which a species responds, and (2) they reasonably represent conditions that lead to enhanced feeding opportunities. These assumptions, and the focus on foraging success, reflect the limits of our understanding of how marine mammals interact with their environment as well as our ability to directly measure the prey field at scales relevant to a foraging predator.The correlative approach has generated considerable insight into the distribution of marine mammal species and their potential foraging areas. However, our models continue to capture only a small portion of the observed variability in species' occurrence or abundance. For example, the deviance explained (a measure of model fit) by models published in this Theme Section was generally be...

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Large-scale sexual segregation of bowhead whales

Cited by 39 publications

References 22 publications

Identification of Potential Foraging Areas for Bowhead Whales in Baffin Bay and Adjacent Waters

Identification of Potential Foraging Areas for Bowhead Whales in Baffin Bay and Adjacent Waters

Winter and spring diving behavior of bowhead whales relative to prey

Beyond correlation: integrating environmentally and behaviourally mediated processes in models of marine mammal distributions

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