Some like it cold: Temperature‐dependent habitat selection by narwhals
The narwhal (Monodon monoceros) is a high‐Arctic species inhabiting areas that are experiencing increases in sea temperatures, which together with reduction in sea ice are expected to modify the niches of several Arctic marine apex predators. The Scoresby Sound fjord complex in East Greenland is the...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:7417212 2023-05-15T15:02:19+02:00 Some like it cold: Temperature‐dependent habitat selection by narwhals Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter Blackwell, Susanna B. Williams, Terrie M. Sinding, Mikkel Holger S. Skovrind, Mikkel Tervo, Outi M. Garde, Eva Hansen, Rikke G. Nielsen, Nynne H. Ngô, Mạnh Cường Ditlevsen, Susanne 2020-07-22 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7417212/ https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6464 en eng John Wiley and Sons Inc. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7417212/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6464 © 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. CC-BY Ecol Evol Original Research Text 2020 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6464 2020-08-16T00:41:04Z The narwhal (Monodon monoceros) is a high‐Arctic species inhabiting areas that are experiencing increases in sea temperatures, which together with reduction in sea ice are expected to modify the niches of several Arctic marine apex predators. The Scoresby Sound fjord complex in East Greenland is the summer residence for an isolated population of narwhals. The movements of 12 whales instrumented with Fastloc‐GPS transmitters were studied during summer in Scoresby Sound and at their offshore winter ground in 2017–2019. An additional four narwhals provided detailed hydrographic profiles on both summer and winter grounds. Data on diving of the whales were obtained from 20 satellite‐linked time‐depth recorders and 16 Acousonde™ recorders that also provided information on the temperature and depth of buzzes. In summer, the foraging whales targeted depths between 300 and 850 m where the preferred areas visited by the whales had temperatures ranging between 0.6 and 1.5°C (mean = 1.1°C, SD = 0.22). The highest probability of buzzing activity during summer was at a temperature of 0.7°C and at depths > 300 m. The whales targeted similar depths at their offshore winter ground where the temperature was slightly higher (range: 0.7–1.7°C, mean = 1.3°C, SD = 0.29). Both the probability of buzzing events and the spatial distribution of the whales in both seasons demonstrated a preferential selection of cold water. This was particularly pronounced in winter where cold coastal water was selected and warm Atlantic water farther offshore was avoided. It is unknown if the small temperature niche of whales while feeding is because prey is concentrated at these temperature gradients and is easier to capture at low temperatures, or because there are limitations in the thermoregulation of the whales. In any case, the small niche requirements together with their strong site fidelity emphasize the sensitivity of narwhals to changes in the thermal characteristics of their habitats. Text Arctic East Greenland Greenland Monodon monoceros narwhal* Scoresby Sound Sea ice PubMed Central (PMC) Arctic Greenland Scoresby ENVELOPE(162.750,162.750,-66.567,-66.567) Ecology and Evolution 10 15 8073 8090 |
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Open Polar |
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PubMed Central (PMC) |
op_collection_id |
ftpubmed |
language |
English |
topic |
Original Research |
spellingShingle |
Original Research Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter Blackwell, Susanna B. Williams, Terrie M. Sinding, Mikkel Holger S. Skovrind, Mikkel Tervo, Outi M. Garde, Eva Hansen, Rikke G. Nielsen, Nynne H. Ngô, Mạnh Cường Ditlevsen, Susanne Some like it cold: Temperature‐dependent habitat selection by narwhals |
topic_facet |
Original Research |
description |
The narwhal (Monodon monoceros) is a high‐Arctic species inhabiting areas that are experiencing increases in sea temperatures, which together with reduction in sea ice are expected to modify the niches of several Arctic marine apex predators. The Scoresby Sound fjord complex in East Greenland is the summer residence for an isolated population of narwhals. The movements of 12 whales instrumented with Fastloc‐GPS transmitters were studied during summer in Scoresby Sound and at their offshore winter ground in 2017–2019. An additional four narwhals provided detailed hydrographic profiles on both summer and winter grounds. Data on diving of the whales were obtained from 20 satellite‐linked time‐depth recorders and 16 Acousonde™ recorders that also provided information on the temperature and depth of buzzes. In summer, the foraging whales targeted depths between 300 and 850 m where the preferred areas visited by the whales had temperatures ranging between 0.6 and 1.5°C (mean = 1.1°C, SD = 0.22). The highest probability of buzzing activity during summer was at a temperature of 0.7°C and at depths > 300 m. The whales targeted similar depths at their offshore winter ground where the temperature was slightly higher (range: 0.7–1.7°C, mean = 1.3°C, SD = 0.29). Both the probability of buzzing events and the spatial distribution of the whales in both seasons demonstrated a preferential selection of cold water. This was particularly pronounced in winter where cold coastal water was selected and warm Atlantic water farther offshore was avoided. It is unknown if the small temperature niche of whales while feeding is because prey is concentrated at these temperature gradients and is easier to capture at low temperatures, or because there are limitations in the thermoregulation of the whales. In any case, the small niche requirements together with their strong site fidelity emphasize the sensitivity of narwhals to changes in the thermal characteristics of their habitats. |
format |
Text |
author |
Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter Blackwell, Susanna B. Williams, Terrie M. Sinding, Mikkel Holger S. Skovrind, Mikkel Tervo, Outi M. Garde, Eva Hansen, Rikke G. Nielsen, Nynne H. Ngô, Mạnh Cường Ditlevsen, Susanne |
author_facet |
Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter Blackwell, Susanna B. Williams, Terrie M. Sinding, Mikkel Holger S. Skovrind, Mikkel Tervo, Outi M. Garde, Eva Hansen, Rikke G. Nielsen, Nynne H. Ngô, Mạnh Cường Ditlevsen, Susanne |
author_sort |
Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter |
title |
Some like it cold: Temperature‐dependent habitat selection by narwhals |
title_short |
Some like it cold: Temperature‐dependent habitat selection by narwhals |
title_full |
Some like it cold: Temperature‐dependent habitat selection by narwhals |
title_fullStr |
Some like it cold: Temperature‐dependent habitat selection by narwhals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Some like it cold: Temperature‐dependent habitat selection by narwhals |
title_sort |
some like it cold: temperature‐dependent habitat selection by narwhals |
publisher |
John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7417212/ https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6464 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(162.750,162.750,-66.567,-66.567) |
geographic |
Arctic Greenland Scoresby |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Greenland Scoresby |
genre |
Arctic East Greenland Greenland Monodon monoceros narwhal* Scoresby Sound Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic East Greenland Greenland Monodon monoceros narwhal* Scoresby Sound Sea ice |
op_source |
Ecol Evol |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7417212/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6464 |
op_rights |
© 2020 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.6464 |
container_title |
Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
15 |
container_start_page |
8073 |
op_container_end_page |
8090 |
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1766334291912949760 |