North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis prey selection in Cape Cod Bay
North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis have been observed feeding in Cape Cod Bay (CCB) for over 8 decades, making CCB the most consistent known feeding habitat under shifting ocean and climate conditions. Determining the composition of the right whales’ prey resource in a stable feeding ha...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:e6e17aeac0054ab38be659de879c995a 2023-06-11T04:10:45+02:00 North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis prey selection in Cape Cod Bay CA Hudak K Stamieszkin CA Mayo 2023-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01240 https://doaj.org/article/e6e17aeac0054ab38be659de879c995a EN eng Inter-Research https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v51/p15-29/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr01240 https://doaj.org/article/e6e17aeac0054ab38be659de879c995a Endangered Species Research, Vol 51, Pp 15-29 (2023) Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01240 2023-05-28T00:37:25Z North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis have been observed feeding in Cape Cod Bay (CCB) for over 8 decades, making CCB the most consistent known feeding habitat under shifting ocean and climate conditions. Determining the composition of the right whales’ prey resource in a stable feeding habitat during a period of environmental change will inform conservation efforts throughout their habitat range. We compared zooplankton sampled in the paths of skim-feeding right whales to the bay-wide zooplankton resource in CCB over 23 yr. The dominant zooplankton taxa in CCB were Pseudocalanus complex, Calanus finmarchicus, and Centropages spp. during the winter/spring seasons. The succession of these 3 dominant taxa—Centropages spp. to Pseudocalanus complex (day of the year [DOY] mean ± SD: 34 ± 3) to C. finmarchicus (DOY 92 ± 3)—has provided right whales with a stable, multi-month food resource in a small portion of their greater North Atlantic habitat. We found that right whales targeted aggregations of non-dominant prey groups: Pseudocalanus complex and Centropages spp. aggregations when Centropages spp. dominated the bay-wide zooplankton community; Pseudocalanus complex patches and C. finmarchicus patches when Pseudocalanus dominated; and primarily C. finmarchicus copepodite stage CIV and CV aggregations when CIII dominated bay-wide abundances. Over the time series, we found that Centropages spp. abundance increased and C. finmarchicus decreased only at the beginning of the season. CCB remains a critical foraging habitat for right whales due to the phenological cycle of their prey and limited inter-annual changes in prey abundance. Article in Journal/Newspaper Calanus finmarchicus Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Endangered Species Research 51 15 29 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 |
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Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 CA Hudak K Stamieszkin CA Mayo North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis prey selection in Cape Cod Bay |
topic_facet |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 |
description |
North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis have been observed feeding in Cape Cod Bay (CCB) for over 8 decades, making CCB the most consistent known feeding habitat under shifting ocean and climate conditions. Determining the composition of the right whales’ prey resource in a stable feeding habitat during a period of environmental change will inform conservation efforts throughout their habitat range. We compared zooplankton sampled in the paths of skim-feeding right whales to the bay-wide zooplankton resource in CCB over 23 yr. The dominant zooplankton taxa in CCB were Pseudocalanus complex, Calanus finmarchicus, and Centropages spp. during the winter/spring seasons. The succession of these 3 dominant taxa—Centropages spp. to Pseudocalanus complex (day of the year [DOY] mean ± SD: 34 ± 3) to C. finmarchicus (DOY 92 ± 3)—has provided right whales with a stable, multi-month food resource in a small portion of their greater North Atlantic habitat. We found that right whales targeted aggregations of non-dominant prey groups: Pseudocalanus complex and Centropages spp. aggregations when Centropages spp. dominated the bay-wide zooplankton community; Pseudocalanus complex patches and C. finmarchicus patches when Pseudocalanus dominated; and primarily C. finmarchicus copepodite stage CIV and CV aggregations when CIII dominated bay-wide abundances. Over the time series, we found that Centropages spp. abundance increased and C. finmarchicus decreased only at the beginning of the season. CCB remains a critical foraging habitat for right whales due to the phenological cycle of their prey and limited inter-annual changes in prey abundance. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
CA Hudak K Stamieszkin CA Mayo |
author_facet |
CA Hudak K Stamieszkin CA Mayo |
author_sort |
CA Hudak |
title |
North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis prey selection in Cape Cod Bay |
title_short |
North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis prey selection in Cape Cod Bay |
title_full |
North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis prey selection in Cape Cod Bay |
title_fullStr |
North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis prey selection in Cape Cod Bay |
title_full_unstemmed |
North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis prey selection in Cape Cod Bay |
title_sort |
north atlantic right whale eubalaena glacialis prey selection in cape cod bay |
publisher |
Inter-Research |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01240 https://doaj.org/article/e6e17aeac0054ab38be659de879c995a |
genre |
Calanus finmarchicus Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale |
genre_facet |
Calanus finmarchicus Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale |
op_source |
Endangered Species Research, Vol 51, Pp 15-29 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v51/p15-29/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr01240 https://doaj.org/article/e6e17aeac0054ab38be659de879c995a |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01240 |
container_title |
Endangered Species Research |
container_volume |
51 |
container_start_page |
15 |
op_container_end_page |
29 |
_version_ |
1768385372299984896 |