Amino acid δ15N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic
Ecotypes are groups within a species with different ecological adaptations than their conspecifics. Eastern North Pacific (ENP) killer whale ( Orcinus orca ) ecotypes differ in their diet, behavior, and morphology, but the same is not known for this species in the eastern Canadian Arctic (ECA) and N...
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crplos:10.1371/journal.pone.0249641 2024-05-19T07:35:49+00:00 Amino acid δ15N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic Matthews, Cory J. D. Lawson, Jack W. Ferguson, Steven H. Drucker, Dorothée Fisheries and Oceans Canada Fisheries and Oceans Canada Nunavut General Monitoring Plan Nunavut General Monitoring Plan Nunavut Wildlife Management Board Nunavut Wildlife Management Board Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249641 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249641 en eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ PLOS ONE volume 16, issue 4, page e0249641 ISSN 1932-6203 journal-article 2021 crplos https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249641 2024-05-01T06:58:40Z Ecotypes are groups within a species with different ecological adaptations than their conspecifics. Eastern North Pacific (ENP) killer whale ( Orcinus orca ) ecotypes differ in their diet, behavior, and morphology, but the same is not known for this species in the eastern Canadian Arctic (ECA) and Northwest Atlantic (NWA). Using compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) of amino acids (AAs), we compared δ 15 N patterns of the primary trophic and source AA pair, glutamic acid/glutamine (Glx) and phenylalanine (Phe), in dentine collagen of (1) sympatric ENP killer whale ecotypes with well-characterized diet differences and (2) ECA/NWA killer whales with unknown diets. δ 15 N Glx-Phe was significantly higher in the ENP fish-eating (FE) than mammal-eating (ME) ecotype (19.2 ± 0.4‰ vs. 13.5 ± 0.7‰, respectively). Similar bimodal variation in δ 15 N Glx-Phe indicated analogous dietary divisions among ECA/NWA killer whales, with two killer whales having higher δ 15 N Glx-Phe (16.5 ± 0.0‰) than the others (13.5 ± 0.6‰). Inferences of dietary divisions between these killer whales were supported by parallel differences in threonine δ 15 N (–33.5 ± 1.6‰ and –40.4 ± 1.1‰, respectively), given the negative correlation between δ 15 N Thr and TP across a range of marine consumers. CSIA-AA results for ECA/NWA whales, coupled with differences in tooth wear (a correlate for diet), are consistent with ecotype characteristics reported in ENP and other killer whale populations, thus adding to documented ecological divergence in this species worldwide. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Killer Whale Northwest Atlantic Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale PLOS PLOS ONE 16 4 e0249641 |
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English |
description |
Ecotypes are groups within a species with different ecological adaptations than their conspecifics. Eastern North Pacific (ENP) killer whale ( Orcinus orca ) ecotypes differ in their diet, behavior, and morphology, but the same is not known for this species in the eastern Canadian Arctic (ECA) and Northwest Atlantic (NWA). Using compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) of amino acids (AAs), we compared δ 15 N patterns of the primary trophic and source AA pair, glutamic acid/glutamine (Glx) and phenylalanine (Phe), in dentine collagen of (1) sympatric ENP killer whale ecotypes with well-characterized diet differences and (2) ECA/NWA killer whales with unknown diets. δ 15 N Glx-Phe was significantly higher in the ENP fish-eating (FE) than mammal-eating (ME) ecotype (19.2 ± 0.4‰ vs. 13.5 ± 0.7‰, respectively). Similar bimodal variation in δ 15 N Glx-Phe indicated analogous dietary divisions among ECA/NWA killer whales, with two killer whales having higher δ 15 N Glx-Phe (16.5 ± 0.0‰) than the others (13.5 ± 0.6‰). Inferences of dietary divisions between these killer whales were supported by parallel differences in threonine δ 15 N (–33.5 ± 1.6‰ and –40.4 ± 1.1‰, respectively), given the negative correlation between δ 15 N Thr and TP across a range of marine consumers. CSIA-AA results for ECA/NWA whales, coupled with differences in tooth wear (a correlate for diet), are consistent with ecotype characteristics reported in ENP and other killer whale populations, thus adding to documented ecological divergence in this species worldwide. |
author2 |
Drucker, Dorothée Fisheries and Oceans Canada Fisheries and Oceans Canada Nunavut General Monitoring Plan Nunavut General Monitoring Plan Nunavut Wildlife Management Board Nunavut Wildlife Management Board Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Matthews, Cory J. D. Lawson, Jack W. Ferguson, Steven H. |
spellingShingle |
Matthews, Cory J. D. Lawson, Jack W. Ferguson, Steven H. Amino acid δ15N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic |
author_facet |
Matthews, Cory J. D. Lawson, Jack W. Ferguson, Steven H. |
author_sort |
Matthews, Cory J. D. |
title |
Amino acid δ15N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic |
title_short |
Amino acid δ15N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic |
title_full |
Amino acid δ15N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Amino acid δ15N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Amino acid δ15N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic |
title_sort |
amino acid δ15n differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the arctic and northwest atlantic |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249641 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249641 |
genre |
Arctic Killer Whale Northwest Atlantic Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale |
genre_facet |
Arctic Killer Whale Northwest Atlantic Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale |
op_source |
PLOS ONE volume 16, issue 4, page e0249641 ISSN 1932-6203 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249641 |
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PLOS ONE |
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16 |
container_issue |
4 |
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e0249641 |
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1799474841145835520 |