Autumn movements of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) from Svalbard, Norway, revealed by satellite tracking
Abstract Insight into animal movements is essential for understanding habitat use by individuals as well as population processes and species life-history strategies. In this study, we instrumented 25 fin whales with ARGOS satellite-transmitters in Svalbard, Norway, to study their movement patterns a...
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2020
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73996-z https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73996-z.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73996-z |
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crspringernat:10.1038/s41598-020-73996-z 2023-05-15T15:36:39+02:00 Autumn movements of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) from Svalbard, Norway, revealed by satellite tracking Lydersen, Christian Vacquié-Garcia, Jade Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter Øien, Nils Guinet, Christophe Kovacs, Kit M. Norwegian Polar Institute Norges Forskningsråd 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73996-z https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73996-z.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73996-z 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 10, issue 1 ISSN 2045-2322 Multidisciplinary journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73996-z 2022-01-04T08:04:52Z Abstract Insight into animal movements is essential for understanding habitat use by individuals as well as population processes and species life-history strategies. In this study, we instrumented 25 fin whales with ARGOS satellite-transmitters in Svalbard, Norway, to study their movement patterns and behaviour (Area Restricted Search (ARS), transiting or unknown) during boreal autumn/early winter. Ten of the whales stayed in the tagging area (most northerly location: 81.68°N) for their entire tracking periods (max 45 days). The other 15 whales moved in a south-westerly direction; the longest track ended off the coast of northern Africa (> 5000 km from the tagging location) after 96 days. The whales engaged in ARS behaviour intermittently throughout their southward migrations. During transit phases the whales moved quickly; one individual maintained an average horizontal speed of 9.3 km/h (travelling 223 km per day) for a period of a week. This study documents that: (1) some fin whales might remain at high latitudes during winter; (2) the whales that do migrate probably feed along the way; (3) they can maintain high transiting speed for long periods and; (4) one breeding area for this species is likely located in deep, warm water some 100 km west of Morocco. Article in Journal/Newspaper Balaenoptera physalus Svalbard Springer Nature (via Crossref) Norway Svalbard Scientific Reports 10 1 |
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Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
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English |
topic |
Multidisciplinary |
spellingShingle |
Multidisciplinary Lydersen, Christian Vacquié-Garcia, Jade Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter Øien, Nils Guinet, Christophe Kovacs, Kit M. Autumn movements of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) from Svalbard, Norway, revealed by satellite tracking |
topic_facet |
Multidisciplinary |
description |
Abstract Insight into animal movements is essential for understanding habitat use by individuals as well as population processes and species life-history strategies. In this study, we instrumented 25 fin whales with ARGOS satellite-transmitters in Svalbard, Norway, to study their movement patterns and behaviour (Area Restricted Search (ARS), transiting or unknown) during boreal autumn/early winter. Ten of the whales stayed in the tagging area (most northerly location: 81.68°N) for their entire tracking periods (max 45 days). The other 15 whales moved in a south-westerly direction; the longest track ended off the coast of northern Africa (> 5000 km from the tagging location) after 96 days. The whales engaged in ARS behaviour intermittently throughout their southward migrations. During transit phases the whales moved quickly; one individual maintained an average horizontal speed of 9.3 km/h (travelling 223 km per day) for a period of a week. This study documents that: (1) some fin whales might remain at high latitudes during winter; (2) the whales that do migrate probably feed along the way; (3) they can maintain high transiting speed for long periods and; (4) one breeding area for this species is likely located in deep, warm water some 100 km west of Morocco. |
author2 |
Norwegian Polar Institute Norges Forskningsråd |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lydersen, Christian Vacquié-Garcia, Jade Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter Øien, Nils Guinet, Christophe Kovacs, Kit M. |
author_facet |
Lydersen, Christian Vacquié-Garcia, Jade Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter Øien, Nils Guinet, Christophe Kovacs, Kit M. |
author_sort |
Lydersen, Christian |
title |
Autumn movements of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) from Svalbard, Norway, revealed by satellite tracking |
title_short |
Autumn movements of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) from Svalbard, Norway, revealed by satellite tracking |
title_full |
Autumn movements of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) from Svalbard, Norway, revealed by satellite tracking |
title_fullStr |
Autumn movements of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) from Svalbard, Norway, revealed by satellite tracking |
title_full_unstemmed |
Autumn movements of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) from Svalbard, Norway, revealed by satellite tracking |
title_sort |
autumn movements of fin whales (balaenoptera physalus) from svalbard, norway, revealed by satellite tracking |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73996-z https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73996-z.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73996-z |
geographic |
Norway Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Norway Svalbard |
genre |
Balaenoptera physalus Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Balaenoptera physalus Svalbard |
op_source |
Scientific Reports volume 10, 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/s41598-020-73996-z |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766367014475005952 |