Alongside but separate: Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores
16 pages, 12 figures, 4 tables Fin whales and sei whales are two migratory baleen whale species sighted every year across the waters of the Azores. Improved understanding of the ecological niche and habitat requirements of these baleen whales is needed to identify persistent or predictable oceanogra...
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ftcsic:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/267820 2024-02-11T10:02:22+01:00 Alongside but separate: Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores González-García, Laura Pierce, Graham J. Autret, Emmanuelle Torres-Palenzuela, Jesús M. 2022 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/267820 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 en eng Elsevier Postprint https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 Sí Deep Sea Research - Part I - Oceanographic Research Papers 184: 103766 (2022) 0967-0637 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/267820 doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 embargo_20240601 Marine mammals Habitat selection Modelling Azores GAMs Baleen whales artículo http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 2022 ftcsic https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 2024-01-16T11:23:30Z 16 pages, 12 figures, 4 tables Fin whales and sei whales are two migratory baleen whale species sighted every year across the waters of the Azores. Improved understanding of the ecological niche and habitat requirements of these baleen whales is needed to identify persistent or predictable oceanographic events that may set the time of their migration, as well as local or ephemeral oceanographic features that may aggregate their prey in a particular area. In dynamic environments such as the open ocean, mesoscale and submesoscale features can become decisive to determine the distributions of highly mobile species such as baleen whales. In this study, we analyse the habitat preferences of fin whales and sei whales around São Miguel Island (Azores) using environmental variables at different temporal and spatial scales. For both species, model results showed a clear influence of variables linked with primary production and therefore, prey availability; as well as a noticeable preference for oceanographically dynamic areas which directly affect distribution and aggregation of prey. Those environmental choices may indicate different levels of foraging habitat use for both species. Differences were found between the species, highlighting preferences for colder waters in fin whales and areas with stronger sea surface temperature gradients in sei whales. Model results obtained for fin whales were similar with those previously published for blue whales, suggesting that both species make similar use of the waters around São Miguel, often foraging during the migration across these waters. Results for sei whale, however, emphasize dynamic variables, indicating that travelling may prevail over feeding behaviour during their migration by the Azores This work was supported by the Applied Physics Department of the Universidad de Vigo (Spain); a predoctoral grant from Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria, Xunta de Galicia [Modalidade B] (PRE/2013/409); and a grant from LabexMER action for young ... Article in Journal/Newspaper baleen whale baleen whales Sei Whale Digital.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 184 103766 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Digital.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) |
op_collection_id |
ftcsic |
language |
English |
topic |
Marine mammals Habitat selection Modelling Azores GAMs Baleen whales |
spellingShingle |
Marine mammals Habitat selection Modelling Azores GAMs Baleen whales González-García, Laura Pierce, Graham J. Autret, Emmanuelle Torres-Palenzuela, Jesús M. Alongside but separate: Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores |
topic_facet |
Marine mammals Habitat selection Modelling Azores GAMs Baleen whales |
description |
16 pages, 12 figures, 4 tables Fin whales and sei whales are two migratory baleen whale species sighted every year across the waters of the Azores. Improved understanding of the ecological niche and habitat requirements of these baleen whales is needed to identify persistent or predictable oceanographic events that may set the time of their migration, as well as local or ephemeral oceanographic features that may aggregate their prey in a particular area. In dynamic environments such as the open ocean, mesoscale and submesoscale features can become decisive to determine the distributions of highly mobile species such as baleen whales. In this study, we analyse the habitat preferences of fin whales and sei whales around São Miguel Island (Azores) using environmental variables at different temporal and spatial scales. For both species, model results showed a clear influence of variables linked with primary production and therefore, prey availability; as well as a noticeable preference for oceanographically dynamic areas which directly affect distribution and aggregation of prey. Those environmental choices may indicate different levels of foraging habitat use for both species. Differences were found between the species, highlighting preferences for colder waters in fin whales and areas with stronger sea surface temperature gradients in sei whales. Model results obtained for fin whales were similar with those previously published for blue whales, suggesting that both species make similar use of the waters around São Miguel, often foraging during the migration across these waters. Results for sei whale, however, emphasize dynamic variables, indicating that travelling may prevail over feeding behaviour during their migration by the Azores This work was supported by the Applied Physics Department of the Universidad de Vigo (Spain); a predoctoral grant from Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria, Xunta de Galicia [Modalidade B] (PRE/2013/409); and a grant from LabexMER action for young ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
González-García, Laura Pierce, Graham J. Autret, Emmanuelle Torres-Palenzuela, Jesús M. |
author_facet |
González-García, Laura Pierce, Graham J. Autret, Emmanuelle Torres-Palenzuela, Jesús M. |
author_sort |
González-García, Laura |
title |
Alongside but separate: Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores |
title_short |
Alongside but separate: Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores |
title_full |
Alongside but separate: Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores |
title_fullStr |
Alongside but separate: Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores |
title_full_unstemmed |
Alongside but separate: Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores |
title_sort |
alongside but separate: sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in são miguel, azores |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/267820 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 |
genre |
baleen whale baleen whales Sei Whale |
genre_facet |
baleen whale baleen whales Sei Whale |
op_relation |
Postprint https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 Sí Deep Sea Research - Part I - Oceanographic Research Papers 184: 103766 (2022) 0967-0637 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/267820 doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 |
op_rights |
embargo_20240601 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 |
container_title |
Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers |
container_volume |
184 |
container_start_page |
103766 |
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1790598305055506432 |