Global climate drives southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) population dynamics

Sea surface temperature (SST) time-series from the southwest Atlantic and the El Niño 4 region in the western Pacific were compared to an index of annual calving success of the southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) breeding in Argentina. There was a strong relationship between right whale calvi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biology Letters
Main Authors: Leaper, Russell, Cooke, Justin, Trathan, Phil, Reid, Keith, Rowntree, Victoria, Payne, Roger
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: The Royal Society 2006
Subjects:
Research Article
Argentina
Pacific
Southern Right Whale
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1618902
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17148385
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0431
Description
Summary:Sea surface temperature (SST) time-series from the southwest Atlantic and the El Niño 4 region in the western Pacific were compared to an index of annual calving success of the southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) breeding in Argentina. There was a strong relationship between right whale calving output and SST anomalies at South Georgia in the autumn of the previous year and also with mean El Niño 4 SST anomalies delayed by 6 years. These results extend similar observations from other krill predators and show clear linkages between global climate signals and the biological processes affecting whale population dynamics.

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