New insights into prime Southern Ocean forage grounds for thriving Western Australian humpback whales
Abstract Humpback whale populations migrate extensively between winter breeding grounds and summer feeding grounds, however known links to remote Antarctic feeding grounds remain limited in many cases. New satellite tracks detail humpback whale migration pathways from Western Australia into the Sout...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50497-2 http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-50497-2.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-50497-2 |
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crspringernat:10.1038/s41598-019-50497-2 2023-05-15T14:09:34+02:00 New insights into prime Southern Ocean forage grounds for thriving Western Australian humpback whales Bestley, Sophie Andrews-Goff, Virginia van Wijk, Esmee Rintoul, Stephen R. Double, Michael C. How, Jason Department of Education and Training | Australian Research Council Fisheries Research and Development Corporation 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50497-2 http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-50497-2.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-50497-2 en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Scientific Reports volume 9, issue 1 ISSN 2045-2322 Multidisciplinary journal-article 2019 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50497-2 2022-01-04T08:21:11Z Abstract Humpback whale populations migrate extensively between winter breeding grounds and summer feeding grounds, however known links to remote Antarctic feeding grounds remain limited in many cases. New satellite tracks detail humpback whale migration pathways from Western Australia into the Southern Ocean. These highlight a focal feeding area during austral spring and early summer at the southern Kerguelen plateau, in a western boundary current where a sharp northward turn and retroflection of ocean fronts occurs along the eastern plateau edge. The topographic steering of oceanographic features here likely supports a predictable, productive and persistent forage ground. The spatial distribution of whaling catches and Discovery era mark-recaptures confirms the importance of this region to Western Australian humpback whales since at least historical times. Movement modelling discriminates sex-related behaviours, with females moving faster during both transit and resident periods, which may be a consequence of size or indicate differential energetic requirements. Relatively short and directed migratory pathways overall, together with high-quality, reliable forage resources may provide a partial explanation for the ongoing strong recovery demonstrated by this population. The combination of new oceanographic information and movement data provides enhanced understanding of important biological processes, which are relevant within the context of the current spatial management and conservation efforts in the Southern Ocean. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Humpback Whale Southern Ocean Springer Nature (via Crossref) Antarctic Austral Kerguelen Southern Ocean Scientific Reports 9 1 |
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Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
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English |
topic |
Multidisciplinary |
spellingShingle |
Multidisciplinary Bestley, Sophie Andrews-Goff, Virginia van Wijk, Esmee Rintoul, Stephen R. Double, Michael C. How, Jason New insights into prime Southern Ocean forage grounds for thriving Western Australian humpback whales |
topic_facet |
Multidisciplinary |
description |
Abstract Humpback whale populations migrate extensively between winter breeding grounds and summer feeding grounds, however known links to remote Antarctic feeding grounds remain limited in many cases. New satellite tracks detail humpback whale migration pathways from Western Australia into the Southern Ocean. These highlight a focal feeding area during austral spring and early summer at the southern Kerguelen plateau, in a western boundary current where a sharp northward turn and retroflection of ocean fronts occurs along the eastern plateau edge. The topographic steering of oceanographic features here likely supports a predictable, productive and persistent forage ground. The spatial distribution of whaling catches and Discovery era mark-recaptures confirms the importance of this region to Western Australian humpback whales since at least historical times. Movement modelling discriminates sex-related behaviours, with females moving faster during both transit and resident periods, which may be a consequence of size or indicate differential energetic requirements. Relatively short and directed migratory pathways overall, together with high-quality, reliable forage resources may provide a partial explanation for the ongoing strong recovery demonstrated by this population. The combination of new oceanographic information and movement data provides enhanced understanding of important biological processes, which are relevant within the context of the current spatial management and conservation efforts in the Southern Ocean. |
author2 |
Department of Education and Training | Australian Research Council Fisheries Research and Development Corporation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bestley, Sophie Andrews-Goff, Virginia van Wijk, Esmee Rintoul, Stephen R. Double, Michael C. How, Jason |
author_facet |
Bestley, Sophie Andrews-Goff, Virginia van Wijk, Esmee Rintoul, Stephen R. Double, Michael C. How, Jason |
author_sort |
Bestley, Sophie |
title |
New insights into prime Southern Ocean forage grounds for thriving Western Australian humpback whales |
title_short |
New insights into prime Southern Ocean forage grounds for thriving Western Australian humpback whales |
title_full |
New insights into prime Southern Ocean forage grounds for thriving Western Australian humpback whales |
title_fullStr |
New insights into prime Southern Ocean forage grounds for thriving Western Australian humpback whales |
title_full_unstemmed |
New insights into prime Southern Ocean forage grounds for thriving Western Australian humpback whales |
title_sort |
new insights into prime southern ocean forage grounds for thriving western australian humpback whales |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50497-2 http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-50497-2.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-50497-2 |
geographic |
Antarctic Austral Kerguelen Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Austral Kerguelen Southern Ocean |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Humpback Whale Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Humpback Whale Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Scientific Reports volume 9, issue 1 ISSN 2045-2322 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50497-2 |
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Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766281589297250304 |