La Niña conditions influence interannual call detections of pygmy blue whales in the eastern Indian Ocean
Oceans across the globe are warming rapidly and marine ecosystems are changing as a result. However, there is a lack of information regarding how blue whales are responding to these changing environments, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. This is because long term data are needed to determine w...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:0e30255877c14f858b0208bf695a9c81 2023-05-15T15:45:10+02:00 La Niña conditions influence interannual call detections of pygmy blue whales in the eastern Indian Ocean Gary Truong Tracey L. Rogers 2023-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.850162 https://doaj.org/article/0e30255877c14f858b0208bf695a9c81 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.850162/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.850162 https://doaj.org/article/0e30255877c14f858b0208bf695a9c81 Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 9 (2023) pygmy blue whales passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) El Niño southern oscillation chlorophyll-a long-term data environmental drivers Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.850162 2023-03-26T01:36:20Z Oceans across the globe are warming rapidly and marine ecosystems are changing as a result. However, there is a lack of information regarding how blue whales are responding to these changing environments, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. This is because long term data are needed to determine whether blue whales respond to variability in environmental conditions. Using over 16 years of passive acoustic data recorded at Cape Leeuwin, we investigated whether oceanic environmental drivers are correlated with the migration patterns of eastern Indian Ocean (EIO) pygmy blue whales off Western Australia. To determine which environmental variables may influence migration patterns, we modelled the number of acoustic call detections of EIO pygmy blue whale calls with broad and fine scale environmental variables. We found a positive correlation between total annual whale call detections and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycles and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), with more whale calls detected during La Niña years. We also found that monthly whale call detections correlated with sea surface height around the hydrophone and chlorophyll-a concentration at a prominent blue whale feeding aggregation area (Bonney Upwelling) where whales feed during the summer before migrating up the west Australian coast. At the interannual scale, ENSO had a stronger relationship with call detections than IOD. During La Niña years, up to ten times more EIO pygmy blue whale calls were detected than in neutral or El Niño years. This is likely linked to changes in productivity in the feeding areas of the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean. We propose that in lower productivity years whales either skipped migration or altered their habitat use and moved further offshore from the hydrophones and therefore were not detected. The frequency and intensity of ENSO events are predicted to increase with climate change, which is likely to impact the productivity of the areas used by blue whales. These changes in productivity may affect the ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Blue whale Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Indian Bonney ENVELOPE(162.417,162.417,-77.717,-77.717) Frontiers in Marine Science 9 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
pygmy blue whales passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) El Niño southern oscillation chlorophyll-a long-term data environmental drivers Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
spellingShingle |
pygmy blue whales passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) El Niño southern oscillation chlorophyll-a long-term data environmental drivers Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 Gary Truong Tracey L. Rogers La Niña conditions influence interannual call detections of pygmy blue whales in the eastern Indian Ocean |
topic_facet |
pygmy blue whales passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) El Niño southern oscillation chlorophyll-a long-term data environmental drivers Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
description |
Oceans across the globe are warming rapidly and marine ecosystems are changing as a result. However, there is a lack of information regarding how blue whales are responding to these changing environments, especially in the Southern Hemisphere. This is because long term data are needed to determine whether blue whales respond to variability in environmental conditions. Using over 16 years of passive acoustic data recorded at Cape Leeuwin, we investigated whether oceanic environmental drivers are correlated with the migration patterns of eastern Indian Ocean (EIO) pygmy blue whales off Western Australia. To determine which environmental variables may influence migration patterns, we modelled the number of acoustic call detections of EIO pygmy blue whale calls with broad and fine scale environmental variables. We found a positive correlation between total annual whale call detections and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycles and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), with more whale calls detected during La Niña years. We also found that monthly whale call detections correlated with sea surface height around the hydrophone and chlorophyll-a concentration at a prominent blue whale feeding aggregation area (Bonney Upwelling) where whales feed during the summer before migrating up the west Australian coast. At the interannual scale, ENSO had a stronger relationship with call detections than IOD. During La Niña years, up to ten times more EIO pygmy blue whale calls were detected than in neutral or El Niño years. This is likely linked to changes in productivity in the feeding areas of the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean. We propose that in lower productivity years whales either skipped migration or altered their habitat use and moved further offshore from the hydrophones and therefore were not detected. The frequency and intensity of ENSO events are predicted to increase with climate change, which is likely to impact the productivity of the areas used by blue whales. These changes in productivity may affect the ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gary Truong Tracey L. Rogers |
author_facet |
Gary Truong Tracey L. Rogers |
author_sort |
Gary Truong |
title |
La Niña conditions influence interannual call detections of pygmy blue whales in the eastern Indian Ocean |
title_short |
La Niña conditions influence interannual call detections of pygmy blue whales in the eastern Indian Ocean |
title_full |
La Niña conditions influence interannual call detections of pygmy blue whales in the eastern Indian Ocean |
title_fullStr |
La Niña conditions influence interannual call detections of pygmy blue whales in the eastern Indian Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
La Niña conditions influence interannual call detections of pygmy blue whales in the eastern Indian Ocean |
title_sort |
la niña conditions influence interannual call detections of pygmy blue whales in the eastern indian ocean |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.850162 https://doaj.org/article/0e30255877c14f858b0208bf695a9c81 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(162.417,162.417,-77.717,-77.717) |
geographic |
Indian Bonney |
geographic_facet |
Indian Bonney |
genre |
Blue whale |
genre_facet |
Blue whale |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 9 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.850162/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.850162 https://doaj.org/article/0e30255877c14f858b0208bf695a9c81 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.850162 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
9 |
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1766379515390459904 |