The Feeding Ecology of Southern Hemisphere Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in a Changing Antarctic Ecosystem ...

• Main Author: Gross, Jasmin
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Griffith University 2021
• Subjects: feeding ecology; Southern hemisphere humpback whales; Megaptera novaeangliae; Antarctic ecosystem; Antarctic; Austral; Southern Ocean; Antarc*; Antarctic Krill; Euphausia superba
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25904/1912/4853; https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/handle/10072/422984

Southern hemisphere humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are capital breeders that use stored energy reserves to migrate annually from their high latitude feeding areas to their low latitude breeding areas. They are thought to follow the classical feeding paradigm of feeding exclusively on Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) during the austral summer in the highly productive waters of the Southern Ocean. For the last two decades, observations and studies have put the validity of the classical feeding paradigm under scrutiny because diverse lines of evidence suggest more feeding heterogeneity occurs for southern hemisphere humpback whales than has been assumed under the classical feeding paradigm. This may be an indication that the paradigm has either always been an oversimplification, or that the feeding ecology of humpback whales is subject to more natural ecosystem variability than previously expected. Alternatively, it may be a sign of present-day changes in the feeding ecology of southern hemisphere ...