Habitats and movement patterns of white whales Delphinapterus leucas in Svalbard, Norway in a changing climate
Abstract Background The Arctic is experiencing rapid reductions in sea ice and in some areas tidal glaciers are melting and retracting onto land. These changes are occurring at extremely rapid rates in the Northeast Atlantic Arctic. The aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of these envir...
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ftdatacite:10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4277222.v1 2023-05-15T15:05:53+02:00 Habitats and movement patterns of white whales Delphinapterus leucas in Svalbard, Norway in a changing climate VacquiĂŠ-Garcia, Jade Lydersen, Christian Ims, Rolf Kovacs, Kit 2018 https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4277222.v1 https://figshare.com/collections/Habitats_and_movement_patterns_of_white_whales_Delphinapterus_leucas_in_Svalbard_Norway_in_a_changing_climate/4277222/1 unknown Figshare https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40462-018-0139-z https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4277222 CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Earth and related environmental sciences Ecology FOS Biological sciences 20199 Astronomical and Space Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Physical sciences Sociology FOS Sociology 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Inorganic Chemistry FOS Chemical sciences Collection article 2018 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4277222.v1 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-018-0139-z https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4277222 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z Abstract Background The Arctic is experiencing rapid reductions in sea ice and in some areas tidal glaciers are melting and retracting onto land. These changes are occurring at extremely rapid rates in the Northeast Atlantic Arctic. The aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of these environmental changes on space use by white whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in Svalbard, Norway. Using a unique biotelemetry data set involving 34 animals, spanning two decades, habitat use and movement patterns were compared before (1995â 2001) and after (2013â 2016) a dramatic change in the regional sea ice regime that began in 2006. Results White whales were extremely coastal in both study periods, remaining near the islands within the Svalbard Archipelago, even when winter sea ice formation pushed them offshore somewhat (later in the year in the recent period), into areas with drifting sea ice (concentrations up to 90%). In both periods, the whales followed the same basic patterns seasonally; they occupied the west coast in summer and shifted to the east coast as winter approached. However, space use did change between the two periods, with the whales spending less time close to tidal glacier fronts in the second period compared to the first (2nd-36% vs 1st-51%), a habitat characterized by low swimming speeds and high turning angles, and more time out in the fjords (2nd-26% vs1st-10%). Use of coastal transit corridors remained the same in both periods; the whales appear to minimize time spent moving between fjords. Conclusions Glacier fronts have previously been shown to be important foraging areas for white whales in Svalbard and the movement metrics documented in this study confirms that this is still the case. However, use of the Fjords habitat in summer and fall (frequency of occupancy and movement metrics) seen in the recent period suggests that the white whales might now also be feeding on Atlantic prey that is increasingly common in the fjords, concomitant with influxes of Atlantic Water along the west coast of Svalbard. Such behavioural flexibility, if confirmed by further diet studies, would likely be important for white whales in adapting to new conditions in Svalbard. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Atlantic Arctic Atlantic-Arctic Delphinapterus leucas glacier glacier Northeast Atlantic Sea ice Svalbard DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Arctic Norway Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftdatacite |
language |
unknown |
topic |
59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Earth and related environmental sciences Ecology FOS Biological sciences 20199 Astronomical and Space Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Physical sciences Sociology FOS Sociology 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Inorganic Chemistry FOS Chemical sciences |
spellingShingle |
59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Earth and related environmental sciences Ecology FOS Biological sciences 20199 Astronomical and Space Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Physical sciences Sociology FOS Sociology 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Inorganic Chemistry FOS Chemical sciences VacquiĂŠ-Garcia, Jade Lydersen, Christian Ims, Rolf Kovacs, Kit Habitats and movement patterns of white whales Delphinapterus leucas in Svalbard, Norway in a changing climate |
topic_facet |
59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Earth and related environmental sciences Ecology FOS Biological sciences 20199 Astronomical and Space Sciences not elsewhere classified FOS Physical sciences Sociology FOS Sociology 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Inorganic Chemistry FOS Chemical sciences |
description |
Abstract Background The Arctic is experiencing rapid reductions in sea ice and in some areas tidal glaciers are melting and retracting onto land. These changes are occurring at extremely rapid rates in the Northeast Atlantic Arctic. The aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of these environmental changes on space use by white whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in Svalbard, Norway. Using a unique biotelemetry data set involving 34 animals, spanning two decades, habitat use and movement patterns were compared before (1995â 2001) and after (2013â 2016) a dramatic change in the regional sea ice regime that began in 2006. Results White whales were extremely coastal in both study periods, remaining near the islands within the Svalbard Archipelago, even when winter sea ice formation pushed them offshore somewhat (later in the year in the recent period), into areas with drifting sea ice (concentrations up to 90%). In both periods, the whales followed the same basic patterns seasonally; they occupied the west coast in summer and shifted to the east coast as winter approached. However, space use did change between the two periods, with the whales spending less time close to tidal glacier fronts in the second period compared to the first (2nd-36% vs 1st-51%), a habitat characterized by low swimming speeds and high turning angles, and more time out in the fjords (2nd-26% vs1st-10%). Use of coastal transit corridors remained the same in both periods; the whales appear to minimize time spent moving between fjords. Conclusions Glacier fronts have previously been shown to be important foraging areas for white whales in Svalbard and the movement metrics documented in this study confirms that this is still the case. However, use of the Fjords habitat in summer and fall (frequency of occupancy and movement metrics) seen in the recent period suggests that the white whales might now also be feeding on Atlantic prey that is increasingly common in the fjords, concomitant with influxes of Atlantic Water along the west coast of Svalbard. Such behavioural flexibility, if confirmed by further diet studies, would likely be important for white whales in adapting to new conditions in Svalbard. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
VacquiĂŠ-Garcia, Jade Lydersen, Christian Ims, Rolf Kovacs, Kit |
author_facet |
VacquiĂŠ-Garcia, Jade Lydersen, Christian Ims, Rolf Kovacs, Kit |
author_sort |
VacquiĂŠ-Garcia, Jade |
title |
Habitats and movement patterns of white whales Delphinapterus leucas in Svalbard, Norway in a changing climate |
title_short |
Habitats and movement patterns of white whales Delphinapterus leucas in Svalbard, Norway in a changing climate |
title_full |
Habitats and movement patterns of white whales Delphinapterus leucas in Svalbard, Norway in a changing climate |
title_fullStr |
Habitats and movement patterns of white whales Delphinapterus leucas in Svalbard, Norway in a changing climate |
title_full_unstemmed |
Habitats and movement patterns of white whales Delphinapterus leucas in Svalbard, Norway in a changing climate |
title_sort |
habitats and movement patterns of white whales delphinapterus leucas in svalbard, norway in a changing climate |
publisher |
Figshare |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4277222.v1 https://figshare.com/collections/Habitats_and_movement_patterns_of_white_whales_Delphinapterus_leucas_in_Svalbard_Norway_in_a_changing_climate/4277222/1 |
geographic |
Arctic Norway Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Norway Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
genre |
Arctic Atlantic Arctic Atlantic-Arctic Delphinapterus leucas glacier glacier Northeast Atlantic Sea ice Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Atlantic Arctic Atlantic-Arctic Delphinapterus leucas glacier glacier Northeast Atlantic Sea ice Svalbard |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40462-018-0139-z https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4277222 |
op_rights |
CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4277222.v1 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-018-0139-z https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4277222 |
_version_ |
1766337556710948864 |