Past and present distribution, densities and movements of blue whales <i>Balaenoptera musculus</i> in the Southern Hemisphere and northern Indian Ocean

Branch, Trevor A.; Stafford, Kathleen M.; PALACIOS, D. M.; Allison, C.; Bannister, John; Burton, Chris; Cabrera, Elsa; Carlson, Carole; Vernazzani, Bárbara Galletti; Gill, Peter C.; Hucke‐Gaete, Rodrigo; Jenner, K. Curt S.; Jenner, Micheline; Matsuoka, Koji; Mikhalev, Yu. A.; Miyashita, Tomio; Morrice, Margaret G.; Nishiwaki, Shigetoshi; Sturrock, Vanessa; Tormosov, Dmitriy D.; Anderson, Robert C.; Baker, Alan N.; Best, PB; Borsa, Philippe; Brownell, Robert L.; Childerhouse, Simon; Findlay, Ken; Gerrodette, Tim; Ilangakoon, Anoukchika D.; Joergensen, M. D.; Kahn, Benjamin; Ljungblad, Don; Maughan, Ben C.; McCauley, Robert D.; McKay, Shannon; Norris, Thomas F.; Rankin, Shannon; Samaran, Flore; Thiele, Deborah; Waerebeek, Koen Van; Warneke, Robert M

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2907.2007.00106.x

Cited by 257 publications

(466 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…Southern Ocean blue whales, for example, are estimated to be at less than 1% of their prewhaling numbers (Branch et al, 2007). In addition, some populations of whales appear to have been completely extirpated (Clapham et al, 2008) or, in the case of eastern North Pacifi c right whales, nearly so (Ivashchenko et al, 2013).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emptying the Oceans: A Summary of Industrial Whaling Catches in the 20th Century

Rocha¹,

Clapham²,

Ivashchenko³

2015

MFR

126

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emptying the Oceans: A Summary of Industrial Whaling Catches in the 20th Century

Rocha¹,

Clapham²,

Ivashchenko³

2015

MFR

126

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“…Marine mammals have seen broad population reductions due to widespread hunting over the past few hundred years (34). Such population decreases reduced the lateral distribution capacity and perhaps reduced the vertical distribution, allowing more nutrients to drop below the photic zone.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global nutrient transport in a world of giants

Doughty

Roman

Faurby

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

348

333

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The past was a world of giants, with abundant whales in the sea and large animals roaming the land. However, that world came to an end following massive late-Quaternary megafauna extinctions on land and widespread population reductions in great whale populations over the past few centuries. These losses are likely to have had important consequences for broad-scale nutrient cycling, because recent literature suggests that large animals disproportionately drive nutrient movement. We estimate that the capacity of animals to move nutrients away from concentration patches has decreased to about 8% of the preextinction value on land and about 5% of historic values in oceans. For phosphorus (P), a key nutrient, upward movement in the ocean by marine mammals is about 23% of its former capacity (previously about 340 million kg of P per year). Movements by seabirds and anadromous fish provide important transfer of nutrients from the sea to land, totalling ∼150 million kg of P per year globally in the past, a transfer that has declined to less than 4% of this value as a result of the decimation of seabird colonies and anadromous fish populations. We propose that in the past, marine mammals, seabirds, anadromous fish, and terrestrial animals likely formed an interlinked system recycling nutrients from the ocean depths to the continental interiors, with marine mammals moving nutrients from the deep sea to surface waters, seabirds and anadromous fish moving nutrients from the ocean to land, and large animals moving nutrients away from hotspots into the continental interior. There were giants in the world in those days.Genesis 6:4, King James version T he past was a world of giants, with abundant whales in the oceans and terrestrial ecosystems teeming with large animals. However, most ecosystems lost their large animals, with around 150 mammal megafaunal (here, defined as ≥44 kg of body mass) species going extinct in the late Pleistocene and early Holocene (1, 2). These extinctions and range declines continued up through historical times and, in many cases, into the present (3). No global extinctions are known for any marine whales, but whale densities might have declined between 66% and 99% (4-6). Some of the largest species have experienced severe declines; for example, in the Southern Hemisphere, blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) have been reduced to 1% of their historical numbers as a result of commercial whaling (4). Much effort has been devoted to determining the cause of the extinctions and declines, with less effort focusing on the ecological impacts of the extinctions. Here, we focus on the ecological impacts, with a specific focus on how nutrient dynamics may have changed on land following the lateQuaternary megafauna extinctions, and in the sea and air following historical hunting pressures.Most biogeochemists studying nutrient cycling focus on in situ production, such as weathering or biological nitrogen (N) fixation, largely ignoring lateral fluxes by animals because they are considered of secondary importance (...

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“…Habitat requirements are poorly understood for blue whales, but likely vary according to energy requirements, which may depend on age, sex, size, and reproductive state (Corkeron & Connor 1999, Ford & Reeves 2008. Blue whale sighting, acoustic and telemetry data in other regions indicate that some areas may be used year-round, with a portion of the population remaining in productive waters during the breeding season, or in breeding waters during the feeding period (Kellogg 1929, Reilly & Thayer 1990, 2irović et al 2004, Branch et al 2007, Bailey et al 2009). In our study, all 7 tagged whales that exited the GSL showed a uniform, southerly movement.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While summer feeding areas have been described for some blue whale aggregations (e.g. Branch et al 2007, Ramp & Sears 2013, few studies have successfully tracked blue whale movements to and from wintering and breeding areas (Bailey et al 2009, Double et al 2014, Torres-Florez et al 2015.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging areas, migratory movements and winter destinations of blue whales from the western North Atlantic

Lesage¹,

Gavrilchuk²,

Andrews³

et al. 2017

Endang. Species. Res.

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The blue whale Balaenoptera musculus is a wide-ranging cetacean that can be found in all oceans. In the North Atlantic, little is known about blue whale distribution and genetic structure, or about the interconnections between areas of aggregations in Icelandic waters, the Azores, N orthwest Africa, and the N orthwest Atlantic. Seasonal movements and habitat use of blue whales, including the location of breeding and wintering areas, are also poorly understood. We used satellite telemetry to track movements of 23 blue whales from eastern Canada, providing the first record of the migratory movements and winter destinations of western North Atlantic blue whales. Cabot Strait, the largest outlet connecting the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Atlantic, was identified as the main corridor for movements in and out of this high-latitude feeding area. The Mid-Atlantic Bight, located off the southeastern USA, was identified as a wintering, and possibly breeding or calving, area. We confirmed the extended use of key summer feeding areas in the St. Lawrence Estuary and northwestern Gulf of St. Lawrence into the fall, and provided evidence for new feeding areas off southern Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Our results indicate that there is likely a strong connectivity among blue whale areas of concentration at northern latitudes. They also suggest sporadic foraging outside the feeding season, and highlight seamounts and other deep ocean structures as potentially important blue whale habitats. Globally, our study emphasizes the large scale (i.e. many thousands of square kilometers) one needs to consider when addressing the conservation issues faced by blue whale populations.

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Past and present distribution, densities and movements of blue whales Balaenoptera musculus in the Southern Hemisphere and northern Indian Ocean

Cited by 257 publications

References 75 publications

Emptying the Oceans: A Summary of Industrial Whaling Catches in the 20th Century

Emptying the Oceans: A Summary of Industrial Whaling Catches in the 20th Century

Global nutrient transport in a world of giants

Foraging areas, migratory movements and winter destinations of blue whales from the western North Atlantic

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