Feeding performance by sympatric blue and fin whales exploiting a common prey resource

• Main Authors: Friedlaender, Ari S., Goldbogen, Jeremy A., Hazen, Elliott L., Calambokidis, John, Southall, Brandon L.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; unknown
• Published: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Subjects: Balaenoptera musculus; Balaenoptera physalus; baleen whale; baleen whales; Copepods
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/articles/cv43nz52r

A major focus in macroecology is to understand the mechanisms that drive differences in habitat, morphology, and behavior in closely related species (Brown 1995). Within this paradigm, energy use and prey acquisition play a fundamental role in affecting behavior, especially with respect to foraging patterns and predator‐prey interactions. Because resources may occur in discrete regions and are often limited, sympatric organisms that feed in similar ways partition resources, when they are limited, both to avoid competition and maximize energy gain (Pianka 1974, Schoener 1983). Baleen whales (Mysticeti) comprise more than a dozen species that have evolved a bulk‐filter feeding strategy that enables the efficient exploitation of low trophic level oceanic resources. Although mysticetes are opportunistic predators that feed on diverse prey types, from schooling fish to small copepods, many sympatric baleen whale species, including blue (Balaenoptera musculus) and fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus), target the similar resources. What remains unknown, however, is whether resources are partitioned when baleen whales and prey overlap in both time and space. This is the publisher’s final pdf. The article is copyrighted by the Society for Marine Mammalogy and published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. It can be found at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291748-7692