Amino acid δ(15)N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic
Ecotypes are groups within a species with different ecological adaptations than their conspecifics. Eastern North Pacific (ENP) killer whale (Orcinus orca) ecotypes differ in their diet, behavior, and morphology, but the same is not known for this species in the eastern Canadian Arctic (ECA) and Nor...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:8018630 2023-05-15T14:59:55+02:00 Amino acid δ(15)N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic Matthews, Cory J. D. Lawson, Jack W. Ferguson, Steven H. 2021-04-02 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8018630/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33798257 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249641 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8018630/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33798257 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249641 © 2021 Matthews et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY PLoS One Research Article Text 2021 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249641 2021-04-18T00:24:44Z Ecotypes are groups within a species with different ecological adaptations than their conspecifics. Eastern North Pacific (ENP) killer whale (Orcinus orca) ecotypes differ in their diet, behavior, and morphology, but the same is not known for this species in the eastern Canadian Arctic (ECA) and Northwest Atlantic (NWA). Using compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) of amino acids (AAs), we compared δ(15)N patterns of the primary trophic and source AA pair, glutamic acid/glutamine (Glx) and phenylalanine (Phe), in dentine collagen of (1) sympatric ENP killer whale ecotypes with well-characterized diet differences and (2) ECA/NWA killer whales with unknown diets. δ(15)N(Glx-Phe) was significantly higher in the ENP fish-eating (FE) than mammal-eating (ME) ecotype (19.2 ± 0.4‰ vs. 13.5 ± 0.7‰, respectively). Similar bimodal variation in δ(15)N(Glx-Phe) indicated analogous dietary divisions among ECA/NWA killer whales, with two killer whales having higher δ(15)N(Glx-Phe) (16.5 ± 0.0‰) than the others (13.5 ± 0.6‰). Inferences of dietary divisions between these killer whales were supported by parallel differences in threonine δ(15)N (–33.5 ± 1.6‰ and –40.4 ± 1.1‰, respectively), given the negative correlation between δ(15)N(Thr) and TP across a range of marine consumers. CSIA-AA results for ECA/NWA whales, coupled with differences in tooth wear (a correlate for diet), are consistent with ecotype characteristics reported in ENP and other killer whale populations, thus adding to documented ecological divergence in this species worldwide. Text Arctic Killer Whale Northwest Atlantic Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale PubMed Central (PMC) Arctic Pacific PLOS ONE 16 4 e0249641 |
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Research Article Matthews, Cory J. D. Lawson, Jack W. Ferguson, Steven H. Amino acid δ(15)N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic |
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Research Article |
description |
Ecotypes are groups within a species with different ecological adaptations than their conspecifics. Eastern North Pacific (ENP) killer whale (Orcinus orca) ecotypes differ in their diet, behavior, and morphology, but the same is not known for this species in the eastern Canadian Arctic (ECA) and Northwest Atlantic (NWA). Using compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) of amino acids (AAs), we compared δ(15)N patterns of the primary trophic and source AA pair, glutamic acid/glutamine (Glx) and phenylalanine (Phe), in dentine collagen of (1) sympatric ENP killer whale ecotypes with well-characterized diet differences and (2) ECA/NWA killer whales with unknown diets. δ(15)N(Glx-Phe) was significantly higher in the ENP fish-eating (FE) than mammal-eating (ME) ecotype (19.2 ± 0.4‰ vs. 13.5 ± 0.7‰, respectively). Similar bimodal variation in δ(15)N(Glx-Phe) indicated analogous dietary divisions among ECA/NWA killer whales, with two killer whales having higher δ(15)N(Glx-Phe) (16.5 ± 0.0‰) than the others (13.5 ± 0.6‰). Inferences of dietary divisions between these killer whales were supported by parallel differences in threonine δ(15)N (–33.5 ± 1.6‰ and –40.4 ± 1.1‰, respectively), given the negative correlation between δ(15)N(Thr) and TP across a range of marine consumers. CSIA-AA results for ECA/NWA whales, coupled with differences in tooth wear (a correlate for diet), are consistent with ecotype characteristics reported in ENP and other killer whale populations, thus adding to documented ecological divergence in this species worldwide. |
format |
Text |
author |
Matthews, Cory J. D. Lawson, Jack W. Ferguson, Steven H. |
author_facet |
Matthews, Cory J. D. Lawson, Jack W. Ferguson, Steven H. |
author_sort |
Matthews, Cory J. D. |
title |
Amino acid δ(15)N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic |
title_short |
Amino acid δ(15)N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic |
title_full |
Amino acid δ(15)N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Amino acid δ(15)N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Amino acid δ(15)N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic |
title_sort |
amino acid δ(15)n differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the arctic and northwest atlantic |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8018630/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33798257 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249641 |
geographic |
Arctic Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Pacific |
genre |
Arctic Killer Whale Northwest Atlantic Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale |
genre_facet |
Arctic Killer Whale Northwest Atlantic Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale |
op_source |
PLoS One |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8018630/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33798257 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249641 |
op_rights |
© 2021 Matthews et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249641 |
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PLOS ONE |
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16 |
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4 |
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e0249641 |
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