Baleen whale distributions and prey associations in the Barents Sea
We investigated the spatial associations between minke Balaenoptera acutorostrata, fin B. physalus and humpback Megaptera novaeangliae whales and their prey in the Barents Sea in late summer of 2003 to 2007. During these years the abundance of their assumed primary prey, capelin Mallotus villotus, w...
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2011
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11250/108758 https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09027 |
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ftimr:oai:imr.brage.unit.no:11250/108758 2023-05-15T15:36:09+02:00 Baleen whale distributions and prey associations in the Barents Sea Skern-Mauritzen, Mette Johannesen, Edda Bjørge, Arne Øien, Nils 2011-03-28 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/11250/108758 https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09027 eng eng Inter-Research urn:issn:0171-8630 urn:issn:1616-1599 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/108758 http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps09027 289-301 426 Marine Ecology Progress Series marine mammals ecosystems VDP::Agriculture and fishery disciplines: 900::Fisheries science: 920::Aquaculture: 922 Journal article Peer reviewed 2011 ftimr https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09027 2021-09-23T20:14:15Z We investigated the spatial associations between minke Balaenoptera acutorostrata, fin B. physalus and humpback Megaptera novaeangliae whales and their prey in the Barents Sea in late summer of 2003 to 2007. During these years the abundance of their assumed primary prey, capelin Mallotus villotus, was low due to a stock collapse. The whales were therefore expected to associate with abundant herring Clupea harengus in the southern Barents Sea and krill (Euphausiacea) in the central and northern Barents Sea. The baleen whales predominantly occupied a narrow, northern area that had high densities of krill, amphipods Themisto spp., and polar cod Boreogadus saida along the northern range of the capelin distribution. A small proportion of the Barents Sea minke and fin whales occurred in the southern areas. Herring was therefore not an important prey species in the Barents Sea in this season. Ecosystem-scale associations, which were determined by spatial associations between species distributions averaged across years, indicated that krill was the predominant prey species. However, contrasting mesoscale associations with their prey in 50 km grid cells and a preference for shallow northern banks suggests that these whales have a diverse diet within a preferred habitat. Finally, positive density dependence and facilitation can be significant processes that influence whale distributions, as the 3 baleen whale species were positively associated at both ecosystem- and mesoscales. 2016-03-28 Article in Journal/Newspaper Balaenoptera acutorostrata baleen whale baleen whales Barents Sea Boreogadus saida Megaptera novaeangliae polar cod Institute for Marine Research: Brage IMR Barents Sea Marine Ecology Progress Series 426 289 301 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Institute for Marine Research: Brage IMR |
op_collection_id |
ftimr |
language |
English |
topic |
marine mammals ecosystems VDP::Agriculture and fishery disciplines: 900::Fisheries science: 920::Aquaculture: 922 |
spellingShingle |
marine mammals ecosystems VDP::Agriculture and fishery disciplines: 900::Fisheries science: 920::Aquaculture: 922 Skern-Mauritzen, Mette Johannesen, Edda Bjørge, Arne Øien, Nils Baleen whale distributions and prey associations in the Barents Sea |
topic_facet |
marine mammals ecosystems VDP::Agriculture and fishery disciplines: 900::Fisheries science: 920::Aquaculture: 922 |
description |
We investigated the spatial associations between minke Balaenoptera acutorostrata, fin B. physalus and humpback Megaptera novaeangliae whales and their prey in the Barents Sea in late summer of 2003 to 2007. During these years the abundance of their assumed primary prey, capelin Mallotus villotus, was low due to a stock collapse. The whales were therefore expected to associate with abundant herring Clupea harengus in the southern Barents Sea and krill (Euphausiacea) in the central and northern Barents Sea. The baleen whales predominantly occupied a narrow, northern area that had high densities of krill, amphipods Themisto spp., and polar cod Boreogadus saida along the northern range of the capelin distribution. A small proportion of the Barents Sea minke and fin whales occurred in the southern areas. Herring was therefore not an important prey species in the Barents Sea in this season. Ecosystem-scale associations, which were determined by spatial associations between species distributions averaged across years, indicated that krill was the predominant prey species. However, contrasting mesoscale associations with their prey in 50 km grid cells and a preference for shallow northern banks suggests that these whales have a diverse diet within a preferred habitat. Finally, positive density dependence and facilitation can be significant processes that influence whale distributions, as the 3 baleen whale species were positively associated at both ecosystem- and mesoscales. 2016-03-28 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Skern-Mauritzen, Mette Johannesen, Edda Bjørge, Arne Øien, Nils |
author_facet |
Skern-Mauritzen, Mette Johannesen, Edda Bjørge, Arne Øien, Nils |
author_sort |
Skern-Mauritzen, Mette |
title |
Baleen whale distributions and prey associations in the Barents Sea |
title_short |
Baleen whale distributions and prey associations in the Barents Sea |
title_full |
Baleen whale distributions and prey associations in the Barents Sea |
title_fullStr |
Baleen whale distributions and prey associations in the Barents Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Baleen whale distributions and prey associations in the Barents Sea |
title_sort |
baleen whale distributions and prey associations in the barents sea |
publisher |
Inter-Research |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/108758 https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09027 |
geographic |
Barents Sea |
geographic_facet |
Barents Sea |
genre |
Balaenoptera acutorostrata baleen whale baleen whales Barents Sea Boreogadus saida Megaptera novaeangliae polar cod |
genre_facet |
Balaenoptera acutorostrata baleen whale baleen whales Barents Sea Boreogadus saida Megaptera novaeangliae polar cod |
op_source |
289-301 426 Marine Ecology Progress Series |
op_relation |
urn:issn:0171-8630 urn:issn:1616-1599 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/108758 http://dx.doi.org/10.3354/meps09027 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/meps09027 |
container_title |
Marine Ecology Progress Series |
container_volume |
426 |
container_start_page |
289 |
op_container_end_page |
301 |
_version_ |
1766366487014014976 |