Seasonal and developmental differences in blubber stores of beluga whales in Bristol Bay, Alaska using high-resolution ultrasound
Diving mammals use blubber for a variety of structural and physiological functions, including buoyancy, streamlining, thermoregulation, and energy storage. Estimating blubber stores provides proxies for body condition, nutritional status, and health. Blubber stores may vary topographically within in...
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fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:jmammal:97/4/1238 2023-05-15T15:41:43+02:00 Seasonal and developmental differences in blubber stores of beluga whales in Bristol Bay, Alaska using high-resolution ultrasound Cornick, Leslie A. Quakenbush, Lori T. Norman, Stephanie A. Pasi, Coral Maslyk, Pamela Burek, Kathy A. Goertz, Caroline E. C. Hobbs, Roderick C. 2016-07-25 00:00:00.0 text/html http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/97/4/1238 https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyw074 en eng Oxford University Press http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/97/4/1238 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyw074 Copyright (C) 2016, Oxford University Press Feature Article TEXT 2016 fthighwire https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyw074 2016-11-16T18:42:14Z Diving mammals use blubber for a variety of structural and physiological functions, including buoyancy, streamlining, thermoregulation, and energy storage. Estimating blubber stores provides proxies for body condition, nutritional status, and health. Blubber stores may vary topographically within individuals, across seasons, and with age, sex, and reproductive status; therefore, a single full-depth blubber biopsy does not provide an accurate measure of blubber depth, and additional biopsies are limited because they result in open wounds. We examined high-resolution ultrasound as a noninvasive method for assessing blubber stores by sampling blubber depth at 11 locations on beluga whales in Alaska. Blubber mass was estimated as a proportion of body mass (40% from the literature) and compared to a function of volume calculated using ultrasound blubber depth measurements in a truncated cone. Blubber volume was converted to total and mass-specific blubber mass estimates based on the density of beluga blubber. There was no significant difference in mean total blubber mass between the 2 estimates ( R 2 = 0.88); however, body mass alone predicted only 68% of the variation in mass-specific blubber stores in juveniles, 7% for adults in the fall, and 33% for adults in the spring. Mass-specific blubber stores calculated from ultrasound measurements were highly variable. Adults had significantly greater blubber stores in the fall (0.48±0.02kg/kg MB ) than in the spring (0.33±0.02kg/kg MB ). There was no seasonal effect in juveniles. High-resolution ultrasound is a more powerful, noninvasive method for assessing blubber stores in wild belugas, allowing for precise measurements at multiple locations. Text Beluga Beluga* Alaska HighWire Press (Stanford University) Journal of Mammalogy 97 4 1238 1248 |
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HighWire Press (Stanford University) |
op_collection_id |
fthighwire |
language |
English |
topic |
Feature Article |
spellingShingle |
Feature Article Cornick, Leslie A. Quakenbush, Lori T. Norman, Stephanie A. Pasi, Coral Maslyk, Pamela Burek, Kathy A. Goertz, Caroline E. C. Hobbs, Roderick C. Seasonal and developmental differences in blubber stores of beluga whales in Bristol Bay, Alaska using high-resolution ultrasound |
topic_facet |
Feature Article |
description |
Diving mammals use blubber for a variety of structural and physiological functions, including buoyancy, streamlining, thermoregulation, and energy storage. Estimating blubber stores provides proxies for body condition, nutritional status, and health. Blubber stores may vary topographically within individuals, across seasons, and with age, sex, and reproductive status; therefore, a single full-depth blubber biopsy does not provide an accurate measure of blubber depth, and additional biopsies are limited because they result in open wounds. We examined high-resolution ultrasound as a noninvasive method for assessing blubber stores by sampling blubber depth at 11 locations on beluga whales in Alaska. Blubber mass was estimated as a proportion of body mass (40% from the literature) and compared to a function of volume calculated using ultrasound blubber depth measurements in a truncated cone. Blubber volume was converted to total and mass-specific blubber mass estimates based on the density of beluga blubber. There was no significant difference in mean total blubber mass between the 2 estimates ( R 2 = 0.88); however, body mass alone predicted only 68% of the variation in mass-specific blubber stores in juveniles, 7% for adults in the fall, and 33% for adults in the spring. Mass-specific blubber stores calculated from ultrasound measurements were highly variable. Adults had significantly greater blubber stores in the fall (0.48±0.02kg/kg MB ) than in the spring (0.33±0.02kg/kg MB ). There was no seasonal effect in juveniles. High-resolution ultrasound is a more powerful, noninvasive method for assessing blubber stores in wild belugas, allowing for precise measurements at multiple locations. |
format |
Text |
author |
Cornick, Leslie A. Quakenbush, Lori T. Norman, Stephanie A. Pasi, Coral Maslyk, Pamela Burek, Kathy A. Goertz, Caroline E. C. Hobbs, Roderick C. |
author_facet |
Cornick, Leslie A. Quakenbush, Lori T. Norman, Stephanie A. Pasi, Coral Maslyk, Pamela Burek, Kathy A. Goertz, Caroline E. C. Hobbs, Roderick C. |
author_sort |
Cornick, Leslie A. |
title |
Seasonal and developmental differences in blubber stores of beluga whales in Bristol Bay, Alaska using high-resolution ultrasound |
title_short |
Seasonal and developmental differences in blubber stores of beluga whales in Bristol Bay, Alaska using high-resolution ultrasound |
title_full |
Seasonal and developmental differences in blubber stores of beluga whales in Bristol Bay, Alaska using high-resolution ultrasound |
title_fullStr |
Seasonal and developmental differences in blubber stores of beluga whales in Bristol Bay, Alaska using high-resolution ultrasound |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seasonal and developmental differences in blubber stores of beluga whales in Bristol Bay, Alaska using high-resolution ultrasound |
title_sort |
seasonal and developmental differences in blubber stores of beluga whales in bristol bay, alaska using high-resolution ultrasound |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/97/4/1238 https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyw074 |
genre |
Beluga Beluga* Alaska |
genre_facet |
Beluga Beluga* Alaska |
op_relation |
http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/97/4/1238 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyw074 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 2016, Oxford University Press |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyw074 |
container_title |
Journal of Mammalogy |
container_volume |
97 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
1238 |
op_container_end_page |
1248 |
_version_ |
1766374610778980352 |