Larger body size leads to greater female beluga whale ovarian reproductive activity at the southern periphery of their range
Abstract Identification of phenotypic characteristics in reproductively successful individuals provides important insights into the evolutionary processes that cause range shifts due to environmental change. Female beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) from the Baffin Bay region (BB) of the Canadian...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:60f2f76c9f784ec583e8aed89448fc06 2023-05-15T15:09:34+02:00 Larger body size leads to greater female beluga whale ovarian reproductive activity at the southern periphery of their range Steven H. Ferguson David J. Yurkowski Justine M. Hudson Tera Edkins Cornelia Willing Cortney A. Watt 2021-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8367 https://doaj.org/article/60f2f76c9f784ec583e8aed89448fc06 EN eng Wiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8367 https://doaj.org/toc/2045-7758 2045-7758 doi:10.1002/ece3.8367 https://doaj.org/article/60f2f76c9f784ec583e8aed89448fc06 Ecology and Evolution, Vol 11, Iss 23, Pp 17314-17322 (2021) age body length Delphinapterus leucas fitness geographic range ovarian corpora Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8367 2022-12-30T20:17:36Z Abstract Identification of phenotypic characteristics in reproductively successful individuals provides important insights into the evolutionary processes that cause range shifts due to environmental change. Female beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) from the Baffin Bay region (BB) of the Canadian Arctic in the core area of the species’ geographic range have larger body size than their conspecifics at the southern range periphery in Hudson Bay (HB). We investigated the mechanism for this north and south divergence as it relates to ovarian reproductive activity (ORA = total corpora) that combines morphometric data with ovarian corpora counted from female reproductive tracts. Our study aim was to assess the relative influence of age and body size of female beluga whale on ORA in the two populations. Female beluga whale ORA increased more quickly with age (63% partial variation explained) in BB than in HB (41%). In contrast, body length in HB female beluga whales accounted for considerably more of the total variation (12% vs. 1%) in ORA compared to BB whales. We speculate that female HB beluga whale ORA was more strongly linked with body length due to higher population density resulting in food competition that favors the energetic advantages of larger body size during seasonal food limitations. Understanding the evolutionary mechanism of how ORA varies across a species’ range will assist conservation efforts in anticipating and mitigating future challenges associated with a warming planet. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas Hudson Bay Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Hudson Bay Baffin Bay Hudson Ora ENVELOPE(7.517,7.517,62.581,62.581) Ecology and Evolution 11 23 17314 17322 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
age body length Delphinapterus leucas fitness geographic range ovarian corpora Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
age body length Delphinapterus leucas fitness geographic range ovarian corpora Ecology QH540-549.5 Steven H. Ferguson David J. Yurkowski Justine M. Hudson Tera Edkins Cornelia Willing Cortney A. Watt Larger body size leads to greater female beluga whale ovarian reproductive activity at the southern periphery of their range |
topic_facet |
age body length Delphinapterus leucas fitness geographic range ovarian corpora Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Abstract Identification of phenotypic characteristics in reproductively successful individuals provides important insights into the evolutionary processes that cause range shifts due to environmental change. Female beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) from the Baffin Bay region (BB) of the Canadian Arctic in the core area of the species’ geographic range have larger body size than their conspecifics at the southern range periphery in Hudson Bay (HB). We investigated the mechanism for this north and south divergence as it relates to ovarian reproductive activity (ORA = total corpora) that combines morphometric data with ovarian corpora counted from female reproductive tracts. Our study aim was to assess the relative influence of age and body size of female beluga whale on ORA in the two populations. Female beluga whale ORA increased more quickly with age (63% partial variation explained) in BB than in HB (41%). In contrast, body length in HB female beluga whales accounted for considerably more of the total variation (12% vs. 1%) in ORA compared to BB whales. We speculate that female HB beluga whale ORA was more strongly linked with body length due to higher population density resulting in food competition that favors the energetic advantages of larger body size during seasonal food limitations. Understanding the evolutionary mechanism of how ORA varies across a species’ range will assist conservation efforts in anticipating and mitigating future challenges associated with a warming planet. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Steven H. Ferguson David J. Yurkowski Justine M. Hudson Tera Edkins Cornelia Willing Cortney A. Watt |
author_facet |
Steven H. Ferguson David J. Yurkowski Justine M. Hudson Tera Edkins Cornelia Willing Cortney A. Watt |
author_sort |
Steven H. Ferguson |
title |
Larger body size leads to greater female beluga whale ovarian reproductive activity at the southern periphery of their range |
title_short |
Larger body size leads to greater female beluga whale ovarian reproductive activity at the southern periphery of their range |
title_full |
Larger body size leads to greater female beluga whale ovarian reproductive activity at the southern periphery of their range |
title_fullStr |
Larger body size leads to greater female beluga whale ovarian reproductive activity at the southern periphery of their range |
title_full_unstemmed |
Larger body size leads to greater female beluga whale ovarian reproductive activity at the southern periphery of their range |
title_sort |
larger body size leads to greater female beluga whale ovarian reproductive activity at the southern periphery of their range |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8367 https://doaj.org/article/60f2f76c9f784ec583e8aed89448fc06 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(7.517,7.517,62.581,62.581) |
geographic |
Arctic Hudson Bay Baffin Bay Hudson Ora |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Hudson Bay Baffin Bay Hudson Ora |
genre |
Arctic Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas Hudson Bay |
genre_facet |
Arctic Baffin Bay Baffin Bay Baffin Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas Hudson Bay |
op_source |
Ecology and Evolution, Vol 11, Iss 23, Pp 17314-17322 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8367 https://doaj.org/toc/2045-7758 2045-7758 doi:10.1002/ece3.8367 https://doaj.org/article/60f2f76c9f784ec583e8aed89448fc06 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8367 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
23 |
container_start_page |
17314 |
op_container_end_page |
17322 |
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1766340736218824704 |