Humpback whale diets respond to variance in ocean climate and ecosystem conditions in the California Current
Abstract Large, migratory predators are often cited as sentinel species for ecosystem processes and climate‐related changes, but their utility as indicators is dependent upon an understanding of their response to environmental variability. Documentation of the links between climate variability, ecos...
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crwiley:10.1111/gcb.13171 2024-06-23T07:53:35+00:00 Humpback whale diets respond to variance in ocean climate and ecosystem conditions in the California Current Fleming, Alyson H. Clark, Casey T. Calambokidis, John Barlow, Jay National Science Foundation Interdisciplinary Graduate Education and Research Traineeship 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13171 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fgcb.13171 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.13171 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Global Change Biology volume 22, issue 3, page 1214-1224 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 journal-article 2015 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13171 2024-06-04T06:47:13Z Abstract Large, migratory predators are often cited as sentinel species for ecosystem processes and climate‐related changes, but their utility as indicators is dependent upon an understanding of their response to environmental variability. Documentation of the links between climate variability, ecosystem change and predator dynamics is absent for most top predators. Identifying species that may be useful indicators and elucidating these mechanistic links provides insight into current ecological dynamics and may inform predictions of future ecosystem responses to climatic change. We examine humpback whale response to environmental variability through stable isotope analysis of diet over a dynamic 20‐year period (1993–2012) in the California Current System ( CCS ). Humpback whale diets captured two major shifts in oceanographic and ecological conditions in the CCS . Isotopic signatures reflect a diet dominated by krill during periods characterized by positive phases of the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation ( NPGO ), cool sea surface temperature (SST), strong upwelling and high krill biomass. In contrast, humpback whale diets are dominated by schooling fish when the NPGO is negative, SST is warmer, seasonal upwelling is delayed and anchovy and sardine populations display increased biomass and range expansion. These findings demonstrate that humpback whales trophically respond to ecosystem shifts, and as a result, their foraging behavior is a synoptic indicator of oceanographic and ecological conditions across the CCS . Multi‐decadal examination of these sentinel species thus provides insight into biological consequences of interannual climate fluctuations, fundamental to advancing ecosystem predictions related to global climate change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Humpback Whale Wiley Online Library Pacific Global Change Biology 22 3 1214 1224 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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English |
description |
Abstract Large, migratory predators are often cited as sentinel species for ecosystem processes and climate‐related changes, but their utility as indicators is dependent upon an understanding of their response to environmental variability. Documentation of the links between climate variability, ecosystem change and predator dynamics is absent for most top predators. Identifying species that may be useful indicators and elucidating these mechanistic links provides insight into current ecological dynamics and may inform predictions of future ecosystem responses to climatic change. We examine humpback whale response to environmental variability through stable isotope analysis of diet over a dynamic 20‐year period (1993–2012) in the California Current System ( CCS ). Humpback whale diets captured two major shifts in oceanographic and ecological conditions in the CCS . Isotopic signatures reflect a diet dominated by krill during periods characterized by positive phases of the North Pacific Gyre Oscillation ( NPGO ), cool sea surface temperature (SST), strong upwelling and high krill biomass. In contrast, humpback whale diets are dominated by schooling fish when the NPGO is negative, SST is warmer, seasonal upwelling is delayed and anchovy and sardine populations display increased biomass and range expansion. These findings demonstrate that humpback whales trophically respond to ecosystem shifts, and as a result, their foraging behavior is a synoptic indicator of oceanographic and ecological conditions across the CCS . Multi‐decadal examination of these sentinel species thus provides insight into biological consequences of interannual climate fluctuations, fundamental to advancing ecosystem predictions related to global climate change. |
author2 |
National Science Foundation Interdisciplinary Graduate Education and Research Traineeship |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fleming, Alyson H. Clark, Casey T. Calambokidis, John Barlow, Jay |
spellingShingle |
Fleming, Alyson H. Clark, Casey T. Calambokidis, John Barlow, Jay Humpback whale diets respond to variance in ocean climate and ecosystem conditions in the California Current |
author_facet |
Fleming, Alyson H. Clark, Casey T. Calambokidis, John Barlow, Jay |
author_sort |
Fleming, Alyson H. |
title |
Humpback whale diets respond to variance in ocean climate and ecosystem conditions in the California Current |
title_short |
Humpback whale diets respond to variance in ocean climate and ecosystem conditions in the California Current |
title_full |
Humpback whale diets respond to variance in ocean climate and ecosystem conditions in the California Current |
title_fullStr |
Humpback whale diets respond to variance in ocean climate and ecosystem conditions in the California Current |
title_full_unstemmed |
Humpback whale diets respond to variance in ocean climate and ecosystem conditions in the California Current |
title_sort |
humpback whale diets respond to variance in ocean climate and ecosystem conditions in the california current |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13171 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fgcb.13171 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.13171 |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
Humpback Whale |
genre_facet |
Humpback Whale |
op_source |
Global Change Biology volume 22, issue 3, page 1214-1224 ISSN 1354-1013 1365-2486 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13171 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
22 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
1214 |
op_container_end_page |
1224 |
_version_ |
1802645310052237312 |