Ecological niche segregation among five toothed whale species off the NW Iberian Peninsula using ecological tracers as multi-approach

• Published in: Marine Biology
• Main Authors: Méndez-Fernández, Paula, González, Ángel F., Read, Fiona L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2013
• Subjects: Fernandez; Harbour porpoise; toothed whale; toothed whales
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/78826; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-013-2274-9

16 páginas, 7 figuras, 3 tablas.-- Paula Méndez Fernández . et al. This study aims to assess niche segregation among the five main toothed whales that frequent the NW Iberian Peninsula waters: the common dolphin, the harbour porpoise, the bottlenose dolphin, the striped dolphin and the long-finned pilot whale. We used cadmium (Cd) and stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) as ecological tracers to assess degree of segregation in diet/trophic level and in foraging habitat, over various time-scales. δ13C values highlighted different habitats, while Cd concentrations highlighted feeding differences between oceanic and neritic species. Moreover, δ15N values suggest different trophic levels of prey targeted within oceanic and neritic species. Hence, results revealed long-term ecological segregation among five toothed whales that coexist in the NWIP and demonstrated the ability of ecological tracers to discriminate ecological niches among closely related species. This work was supported through the PhD grant to P. Mendez-Fernandez from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology of the Govern- ment of Portugal (SFRH/BD/36766/2007). G.J. Pierce acknowledges support from the EU under the ANIMATE project (MEXC-CT-2006- 042337). M.B. Santos acknowledges support from the LOTOFPEL project (Plan Nacional de I+D+I, CTM 2010-16053) and from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Programa Nacional de Movilidad de Recursos Humanos de Investigacion (PR-2010-0518). Peer reviewed