Multi-year patterns in testosterone, cortisol and corticosterone in baleen from adult males of three whale species

Hunt, Kathleen E.; Lysiak, Nadine S. J.; Matthews, Cory J. D.; Lowe, Carley; Ajó, Alejandro Fernández; Dillon, Danielle; Willing, Cornelia; Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter; Ferguson, Steven H.; Moore, Michael J.; Buck, C. Loren

doi:10.1093/conphys/coy049

Cited by 43 publications

(50 citation statements)

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“…(2020) 10:7710 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64855-y www.nature.com/scientificreports www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Leptin, which has been studied in bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) and beluga whales 55 is a satiety hormone that is released as adipose tissue increases, signaling to the reproductive system that sufficient fuel reserves have been stored to support reproduction 25 and stimulating ovulation in female mammals 56 . Additional evidence of the influence of hormones comes from the analysis of cross-sections of baleen from a stranded male blue whale, which displayed regularly spaced areas of high testosterone peaks 57 . Although the age of the whale was unknown, the cycles mirrored annual cycles of testosterone measured in the baleen of a bowhead whale and North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) of known ages 57 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Timing is everything: Drivers of interannual variability in blue whale migration

Szesciorka

Ballance

Širović

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Blue whales need to time their migration from their breeding grounds to their feeding grounds to avoid missing peak prey abundances, but the cues they use for this are unknown. We examine migration timing (inferred from the local onset and cessation of blue whale calls recorded on seafloor-mounted hydrophones), environmental conditions (e.g., sea surface temperature anomalies and chlorophyll a), and prey (spring krill biomass from annual net tow surveys) during a 10 year period (2008-2017) in waters of the Southern california Region where blue whales feed in the summer. colder sea surface temperature anomalies the previous season were correlated with greater krill biomass the following year, and earlier arrival by blue whales. our results demonstrate a plastic response of blue whales to interannual variability and the importance of krill as a driving force behind migration timing. A decadalscale increase in temperature due to climate change has led to blue whales extending their overall time in Southern California. By the end of our 10-year study, whales were arriving at the feeding grounds more than one month earlier, while their departure date did not change. conservation strategies will need to account for increased anthropogenic threats resulting from longer times at the feeding grounds. Productivity in the California Current Ecosystem (CCE) is fueled by the seasonal, wind-driven coastal upwelling of nutrient-rich waters 1. Upwelling pulses are followed by phytoplankton blooms ca. one week later, and an increase in zooplankton biomass weeks to months later 2. Seasonal upwelling and the ensuing assemblage of zooplankton and forage fish create rich feeding grounds that are exploited by highly migratory predators 3,4. The timing of these physical-biological couplings is strongly influenced by environmental variability on interannual to multi-decadal scales 5. Environmental variability may create a temporal mismatch between the migration timing of a predator and fluctuations of its prey 6,7. Migration between discrete feeding and breeding grounds involves complex internal and external processes and species-specific environmental cues 8. At the feeding grounds, prey availability determines the timing and physical condition of an animal at its departure, which influences the timing of arrival and physical condition at its breeding grounds, ultimately affecting reproductive success 9. Animals migrating long distances minimize predator-prey mismatches by altering the timing of their migration 10 , while balancing time spent on foraging or reproductive-related behaviors 11. Plasticity in migration has been well studied in terrestrial birds and mammals 12,13 , but less in aquatic animals. Blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) are a model species for investigating the relationship between environmental interannual variability and migration phenology. As a long-lived, highly migratory species, individuals experience interannual to multidecadal-scale environmental variability. Although the cues they use for the timing of mi...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Timing is everything: Drivers of interannual variability in blue whale migration

Szesciorka

Ballance

Širović

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…It is possible to obtain measures of a number of physiological markers from fecal samples. These include stress hormones, reproductive hormones, thyroid hormone metabolites (as indicators of nutritional stress), gut microflora (including parasite load), exposure to toxins, prey DNA and fecal hormone metabolites (used to assess acute vs. chronic stress markers) (Hunt et al, 2004(Hunt et al, , 2018(Hunt et al, , 2019. As with blow sampling, there is still a need for further work to validate these approaches and to understand how measurements obtained from blows and feces compare with those obtained via biopsy (Hunt et al, 2018).…”

Section: Remote Tissue Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methods for Monitoring for the Population Consequences of Disturbance in Marine Mammals: A Review

2020

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Assessing the non-lethal effects of disturbance and their population-level consequences is a significant ecological and conservation challenge, because it requires extensive baseline knowledge of behavioral patterns, life-history and demography. However, for many marine mammal populations, this knowledge is currently lacking and it may take decades to fill the gaps. During this time, undetected population declines may occur. In this study we identify methods that can be used to monitor populations subject to disturbance and provide insights into the processes through which disturbance may affect them. To identify and address the knowledge gaps highlighted above, we reviewed the literature to identify suitable response variables and methods for monitoring these variables. We also used existing models of the population consequences of disturbance (PCoD) to identify demographic characteristics (e.g., the proportion of immature animals in the population, or the ratio of calves/pups to mature females) that may be strongly correlated with population status and therefore provide early warnings of future changes in abundance. These demographic characteristics can be monitored using established methods such as visual surveys combined with photogrammetry, and capture-recapture analysis. Individual health and physiological variables can also inform PCoD assessment and can be monitored using photogrammetry, remote tissue sampling, hands-on assessment and individual tracking. We then conducted a workshop to establish the relative utility and feasibility of all these approaches for different groups of marine mammal species. We describe how future marine mammal monitoring programs can be designed to inform population-level analysis.

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“…This is consistent with other recent studies of GCs in baleen, in which corticosterone concentrations were up to 4‐fold higher than cortisol in baleen (Hunt et al . , ; Lysiak et al . ).…”

Section: The Mean (± Sd) Baseline (± Sd) and Maximum Values For Cormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hunt et al . () suggested that both GCs were increased during the approximate interval when a North Atlantic right whale experienced a mild entanglement along with the presence of white skin lesions. In the latter study, baleen corticosterone was at higher concentrations than cortisol, although marked variability in both GCs was evident for the entire data series, and any elevation in GCs was much less pronounced than in the current study.…”

Section: The Mean (± Sd) Baseline (± Sd) and Maximum Values For Cormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, Lysiak et al (2018) found that baleen corticosterone concentrations were highest, and cortisol levels were actually lower than the baseline during a chronic entanglement in an adult female North Atlantic right whale. Hunt et al (2018) suggested that both GCs were increased during the approximate interval when a North Atlantic right whale experienced a mild entanglement along with the presence of white skin lesions. In the latter study, baleen corticosterone was at higher concentrations than cortisol, although marked variability in both GCs was evident for the entire data series, and any elevation in GCs was much less pronounced than in the current study.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Chronic stress from fishing gear entanglement is recorded in baleen from a bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus)

Rolland

Graham

Stimmelmayr

et al. 2019

Marine Mammal Science

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Multi-year patterns in testosterone, cortisol and corticosterone in baleen from adult males of three whale species

Cited by 43 publications

References 64 publications

Timing is everything: Drivers of interannual variability in blue whale migration

Timing is everything: Drivers of interannual variability in blue whale migration

Methods for Monitoring for the Population Consequences of Disturbance in Marine Mammals: A Review

Chronic stress from fishing gear entanglement is recorded in baleen from a bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus)

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