Fine Scale Baleen Whale Behavior Observed via Tagging Over Daily Time Scales
My objectives are (1) to develop a reliable tagging and tracking system that allows sustained unambiguous tracking over time scales of days, and (2) to characterize the relationship between diel variability in the foraging behavior of baleen whales (North Atlantic right whales and sei whales) and th...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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2012
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| Online Access: | http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA573312 http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA573312 |
| Summary: | My objectives are (1) to develop a reliable tagging and tracking system that allows sustained unambiguous tracking over time scales of days, and (2) to characterize the relationship between diel variability in the foraging behavior of baleen whales (North Atlantic right whales and sei whales) and the diel vertical migration behavior of their copepod prey. I hypothesize that (1) right whales track the diel vertical migration of copepods by feeding near the bottom during the day and at the surface at night, and (2) sei whales are unable to feed on copepods at depth during the day, and are therefore restricted to feeding on copepods at the surface only. Because copepod diel vertical migration is variable over time (days to weeks) and space (tens of kilometers) (Baumgartner et al. 2011), I further hypothesize that sei whales range much further than right whales to find areas where copepods are exhibiting weak diel vertical migration behavior. The original document contains color images. |
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