Song recordings suggest feeding ground sharing in Southern Hemisphere humpback whales

Schall, Elena; Djokić, D.; Ross-Marsh, Erin C.; Onã, Javier; Denkinger, Judith; Baumgarten, Júlio; Padovese, Linilson Rodrigues; Rossi‐Santos, Marcos R.; Gonçalves, Maria Isabel Carvalho; Sousa‐Lima, Renata S.; Hucke‐Gaete, Rodrigo; Elwen, Simon H.; Buchan, Susannah J.; Gridley, Tess; Opzeeland, Ilse van

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-17999-y

Cited by 6 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…It is therefore possible that these whales use different migration routes to the feeding grounds, and that song is exchanged while on the high-latitude feeding grounds (Best and Allison, 2010; Barendse et al ., 2011; Schall et al . 2022, Ramos et al ., 2023).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is some genetic differentiation between humpback whales from western South Africa and Gabon, but with some known interchange of biopsied and photographically identified individuals between these sub-stocks (Rosenbaum et al, 2009;Barendse et al, 2011). It is therefore possible that these whales use different migration routes to the feeding grounds, and that song is exchanged while on the high-latitude feeding grounds (Best and Allison, 2010;Barendse et al, 2011;Schall et al 2022, Ramos et al, 2023.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cetacean diversity of the eastern South Atlantic Ocean and Vema Seamount detected during a visual and passive acoustic survey, 2019

et al. 2023

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Cetaceans in the eastern South Atlantic Ocean are poorly studied. We present results from a 2 week ship-based survey from Cape Town to Vema Seamount (980 km to the west) during October–November 2019, including visual and towed-hydrophone observations from the vessel, and 10 days of acoustic monitoring on the seamount. Fifty-two hours of visual surveys resulted in 39 encounters of whale groups including seven of humpback, six of fin and one sei whale, as well as four unidentified baleen whales, 18 unidentified balaenopterid whales and four unidentified odontocetes. Two humpback whales at the seamount were engaged in possible feeding behaviour. A large aggregation of mostly fin whales was observed near the continental shelf edge (22 encounters over a 70 × 50 km2 area, six fin, one sei whale, 15 not confirmed to species), an historic whaling ground for both fin and sei whales. Towed-hydrophone data (78.7 h) detected five groups of sperm whales, 45 of delphinids, one beaked whale and no Kogiids. Acoustic data from the seamount detected calls from several baleen whale species including humpback whale non-song calls, Antarctic minke ‘bioduck’ calls, sei whale down-sweep calls and a likely Bryde's whale call. Two call types could not be assigned to species, including the most detected – a simple frequency-modulated call with peak power around 130 Hz. This study contributes to an improved understanding of cetacean occurrence in the eastern South Atlantic Ocean and highlights the need for more research to improve identification of cetacean vocalizations in the region.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cetacean diversity of the eastern South Atlantic Ocean and Vema Seamount detected during a visual and passive acoustic survey, 2019

et al. 2023

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“…9 Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Branch Oceans and Coasts, V& A Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa. * email: eric.angel.ramos@ gmail.com; ted@happywhale.com and spread regionally) 13,14 also support that population boundaries can be porous, and that exchange does occur between recognized stocks.…”

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confidence: 94%

“…Extensive data from whaling eras and whaling related research (e.g., the Discovery Marking Programme 9 ), coupled with global genetic studies and photographic capture-recapture of whales, broadly support the traditionally recognized populations or ‘stocks’ of humpback whales, as they are termed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC), and their distinct distribution patterns 6 , 10 . However, increasingly studies using both photo-identification (photo-ID) 10 , 11 , satellite telemetry 12 , and evidence for cultural exchange of humpback whale song (typically shared within populations and spread regionally) 13 , 14 also support that population boundaries can be porous, and that exchange does occur between recognized stocks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, a genetic recapture of a whale that was sampled in both Gabon and Madagascar revealed its travel between breeding areas associated with substocks B1 and C3 23 while a photographic recapture linked stock B1 in Brazil to substock C3 in Madagascar 26 . Ross-Marsh et al 51 and Schall et al 14 recently showed regular and ongoing exchange of culturally learned song units by humpback whales across breeding, migratory, and feeding areas, likely driven mainly by overlap in the Southern Ocean feeding grounds but potentially driven by relatively few individuals. Their findings and genetic analysis of Southern Ocean humpback whale populations further support population mixing over multiple years at feeding grounds in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean (ASSO) off Antarctica 52 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interchange of Southern Hemisphere humpback whales across the South Atlantic Ocean

Ramos¹,

Cheeseman

Marcondes

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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The cosmopolitan distribution of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) is largely driven by migrations between winter low-latitude breeding grounds and summer high-latitude feeding grounds. Southern Hemisphere humpback whales faced intensive exploitation during the whaling eras and recently show evidence of population recovery. Gene flow and shared song indicate overlap between the western (A) and eastern (B1, B2) Breeding Stocks in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans (C1). Here, we investigated photo-identification evidence of population interchange using images of individuals photographed during boat-based tourism and research in Brazil and South Africa from 1989 to 2022. Fluke images were uploaded to Happywhale, a global digital database for marine mammal identification. Six whales were recaptured between countries from 2002 to 2021 with resighting intervals ranging from 0.76 to 12.92 years. Four whales originally photographed off Abrolhos Bank, Brazil were photographed off the Western Cape, South Africa (feeding grounds for B2). Two whales originally photographed off the Western Cape were photographed off Brazil, one traveling to the Eastern Cape in the Southwestern Indian Ocean (a migration corridor for C1) before migrating westward to Brazil. These findings photographically confirm interchange of humpback whales across the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the importance of international collaboration to understand population boundaries.

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The migratory whale herd concept: A novel unit to conserve under the ecological paradigm

Martien

Taylor

Lang

et al. 2023

Marine Mammal Science

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Photographic and genetic studies have revealed the complex population structure of migratory large whales. Most research and management are geographically based, focusing on either wintering or summering areas, which in most cases fails to capture this complexity. We use examples from humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) to illustrate the concept of migratory herds, defined here as conspecific whales that migrate between the same wintering and feeding ground. In cases where individuals show strong fidelity to both feeding and wintering grounds, and therefore to a herd, dispersal between herds can be low enough to render them as demographically independent populations, where population dynamics are determined more by net internal recruitment (births minus deaths) than by immigration from outside sources. In these cases, the migratory whale herd is the appropriate unit to conserve under the ecological paradigm that focuses on groups united by demographic forces. We suggest that when addressing questions focused on ecological timescales for whale species with strong fidelity to migratory destinations, the migratory whale herd is a better initial working hypothesis rather than one based on geographically defined strata.

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Song recordings suggest feeding ground sharing in Southern Hemisphere humpback whales

Cited by 6 publications

References 63 publications

Cetacean diversity of the eastern South Atlantic Ocean and Vema Seamount detected during a visual and passive acoustic survey, 2019

Cetacean diversity of the eastern South Atlantic Ocean and Vema Seamount detected during a visual and passive acoustic survey, 2019

Interchange of Southern Hemisphere humpback whales across the South Atlantic Ocean

The migratory whale herd concept: A novel unit to conserve under the ecological paradigm

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