Environmental conditions and marine heatwaves influence blue whale foraging and reproductive effort
Abstract Animal behavior is motivated by the fundamental need to feed and reproduce, and these behaviors can be inferred from spatiotemporal variations in biological signals such as vocalizations. Yet, linking foraging and reproductive effort to environmental drivers can be challenging for wide‐rang...
Published in: | Ecology and Evolution |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , |
Other Authors: | |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2023
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9770 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.9770 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/ece3.9770 |
id |
crwiley:10.1002/ece3.9770 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crwiley:10.1002/ece3.9770 2024-06-23T07:51:49+00:00 Environmental conditions and marine heatwaves influence blue whale foraging and reproductive effort Barlow, Dawn R. Klinck, Holger Ponirakis, Dimitri Branch, Trevor A. Torres, Leigh G. Aotearoa Foundation 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9770 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.9770 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/ece3.9770 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ecology and Evolution volume 13, issue 2 ISSN 2045-7758 2045-7758 journal-article 2023 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9770 2024-06-11T04:41:34Z Abstract Animal behavior is motivated by the fundamental need to feed and reproduce, and these behaviors can be inferred from spatiotemporal variations in biological signals such as vocalizations. Yet, linking foraging and reproductive effort to environmental drivers can be challenging for wide‐ranging predator species. Blue whales are acoustically active marine predators that produce two distinct vocalizations: song and D calls. We examined environmental correlates of these vocalizations using continuous recordings from five hydrophones in the South Taranaki Bight region of Aotearoa New Zealand to investigate call behavior relative to ocean conditions and infer life history patterns. D calls were strongly correlated with oceanographic drivers of upwelling in spring and summer, indicating associations with foraging effort. In contrast, song displayed a highly seasonal pattern with peak intensity in fall, which aligned with the timing of conception inferred from whaling records. Finally, during a marine heatwave, reduced foraging (inferred from D calls) was followed by lower reproductive effort (inferred from song intensity). Article in Journal/Newspaper Blue whale Wiley Online Library New Zealand Ecology and Evolution 13 2 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Animal behavior is motivated by the fundamental need to feed and reproduce, and these behaviors can be inferred from spatiotemporal variations in biological signals such as vocalizations. Yet, linking foraging and reproductive effort to environmental drivers can be challenging for wide‐ranging predator species. Blue whales are acoustically active marine predators that produce two distinct vocalizations: song and D calls. We examined environmental correlates of these vocalizations using continuous recordings from five hydrophones in the South Taranaki Bight region of Aotearoa New Zealand to investigate call behavior relative to ocean conditions and infer life history patterns. D calls were strongly correlated with oceanographic drivers of upwelling in spring and summer, indicating associations with foraging effort. In contrast, song displayed a highly seasonal pattern with peak intensity in fall, which aligned with the timing of conception inferred from whaling records. Finally, during a marine heatwave, reduced foraging (inferred from D calls) was followed by lower reproductive effort (inferred from song intensity). |
author2 |
Aotearoa Foundation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Barlow, Dawn R. Klinck, Holger Ponirakis, Dimitri Branch, Trevor A. Torres, Leigh G. |
spellingShingle |
Barlow, Dawn R. Klinck, Holger Ponirakis, Dimitri Branch, Trevor A. Torres, Leigh G. Environmental conditions and marine heatwaves influence blue whale foraging and reproductive effort |
author_facet |
Barlow, Dawn R. Klinck, Holger Ponirakis, Dimitri Branch, Trevor A. Torres, Leigh G. |
author_sort |
Barlow, Dawn R. |
title |
Environmental conditions and marine heatwaves influence blue whale foraging and reproductive effort |
title_short |
Environmental conditions and marine heatwaves influence blue whale foraging and reproductive effort |
title_full |
Environmental conditions and marine heatwaves influence blue whale foraging and reproductive effort |
title_fullStr |
Environmental conditions and marine heatwaves influence blue whale foraging and reproductive effort |
title_full_unstemmed |
Environmental conditions and marine heatwaves influence blue whale foraging and reproductive effort |
title_sort |
environmental conditions and marine heatwaves influence blue whale foraging and reproductive effort |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9770 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.9770 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/ece3.9770 |
geographic |
New Zealand |
geographic_facet |
New Zealand |
genre |
Blue whale |
genre_facet |
Blue whale |
op_source |
Ecology and Evolution volume 13, issue 2 ISSN 2045-7758 2045-7758 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9770 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
2 |
_version_ |
1802642955119362048 |