Global climate drives southern right whale ( Eubalaena australis ) population dynamics
Sea surface temperature (SST) time-series from the southwest Atlantic and the El Niño 4 region in the western Pacific were compared to an index of annual calving success of the southern right whale ( Eubalaena australis ) breeding in Argentina. There was a strong relationship between right whale cal...
Published in: | Biology Letters |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
The Royal Society
2006
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0431 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0431 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0431 |
Summary: | Sea surface temperature (SST) time-series from the southwest Atlantic and the El Niño 4 region in the western Pacific were compared to an index of annual calving success of the southern right whale ( Eubalaena australis ) breeding in Argentina. There was a strong relationship between right whale calving output and SST anomalies at South Georgia in the autumn of the previous year and also with mean El Niño 4 SST anomalies delayed by 6 years. These results extend similar observations from other krill predators and show clear linkages between global climate signals and the biological processes affecting whale population dynamics. |
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