Body condition and migration timing of east Australian humpback whales
In order to exploit seasonally favourable habitats for feeding and breeding, humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae undertake one of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom. Stored energy is crucial for a successful migration, but few studies have investigated the relationship between migration...
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2022
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ftuniaarhuspubl:oai:pure.atira.dk:publications/7bd9d9ad-b05c-4332-a773-ddce6aec3915 2024-05-19T07:38:01+00:00 Body condition and migration timing of east Australian humpback whales Russell, Grace Colefax, Andrew Christiansen, Fredrik Russell, George Fowler, Zoe Cagnazzi, Daniele 2022 https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/publications/7bd9d9ad-b05c-4332-a773-ddce6aec3915 https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14075 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85133671456&partnerID=8YFLogxK eng eng https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/publications/7bd9d9ad-b05c-4332-a773-ddce6aec3915 info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Russell , G , Colefax , A , Christiansen , F , Russell , G , Fowler , Z & Cagnazzi , D 2022 , ' Body condition and migration timing of east Australian humpback whales ' , Marine Ecology Progress Series , vol. 692 , pp. 169-183 . https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14075 Baleen whale Capital breeder Fat reserves Megaptera novaeangliae Photogrammetry UAV Unmanned aerial vehicle article 2022 ftuniaarhuspubl https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14075 2024-05-01T23:48:43Z In order to exploit seasonally favourable habitats for feeding and breeding, humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae undertake one of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom. Stored energy is crucial for a successful migration, but few studies have investigated the relationship between migration timing and body condition in baleen whales. Using unmanned aerial vehicles, we quantified the body condition of east Australian humpback whales. We collected data on 513 individuals (48 calves, 166 juveniles, 251 adults, and 48 lactating females) during their northbound and southbound migrations between June and October 2020. For adults and juveniles, we explored the loss of body condition between migration direction (north versus south) as well as the relationship of migration timing (day of year) and body condition. We found a significant loss in body condition between the northbound and southbound migrations for both adults (9.8%) and juveniles (18.3%). However, migration timing did not influence body condition for either reproductive class. Cow/calf pairs were analysed using relative calf length (percentage of maternal length) as a proxy for days postpartum. We found a positive curvilinear relationship between migration timing and calf body condition. However, lactating females showed no relationship between migration timing and body condition. Whilst body condition is important for capital breeding whales, the lack of a correlation found for adults and juveniles suggests that body condition is not the main driver of migration timing from feeding or breeding grounds. However, calf body condition may be a significant factor for the migration timing of cow/calf pairs. Article in Journal/Newspaper baleen whale baleen whales Megaptera novaeangliae Aarhus University: Research Marine Ecology Progress Series 692 169 183 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Aarhus University: Research |
op_collection_id |
ftuniaarhuspubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Baleen whale Capital breeder Fat reserves Megaptera novaeangliae Photogrammetry UAV Unmanned aerial vehicle |
spellingShingle |
Baleen whale Capital breeder Fat reserves Megaptera novaeangliae Photogrammetry UAV Unmanned aerial vehicle Russell, Grace Colefax, Andrew Christiansen, Fredrik Russell, George Fowler, Zoe Cagnazzi, Daniele Body condition and migration timing of east Australian humpback whales |
topic_facet |
Baleen whale Capital breeder Fat reserves Megaptera novaeangliae Photogrammetry UAV Unmanned aerial vehicle |
description |
In order to exploit seasonally favourable habitats for feeding and breeding, humpback whales Megaptera novaeangliae undertake one of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom. Stored energy is crucial for a successful migration, but few studies have investigated the relationship between migration timing and body condition in baleen whales. Using unmanned aerial vehicles, we quantified the body condition of east Australian humpback whales. We collected data on 513 individuals (48 calves, 166 juveniles, 251 adults, and 48 lactating females) during their northbound and southbound migrations between June and October 2020. For adults and juveniles, we explored the loss of body condition between migration direction (north versus south) as well as the relationship of migration timing (day of year) and body condition. We found a significant loss in body condition between the northbound and southbound migrations for both adults (9.8%) and juveniles (18.3%). However, migration timing did not influence body condition for either reproductive class. Cow/calf pairs were analysed using relative calf length (percentage of maternal length) as a proxy for days postpartum. We found a positive curvilinear relationship between migration timing and calf body condition. However, lactating females showed no relationship between migration timing and body condition. Whilst body condition is important for capital breeding whales, the lack of a correlation found for adults and juveniles suggests that body condition is not the main driver of migration timing from feeding or breeding grounds. However, calf body condition may be a significant factor for the migration timing of cow/calf pairs. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Russell, Grace Colefax, Andrew Christiansen, Fredrik Russell, George Fowler, Zoe Cagnazzi, Daniele |
author_facet |
Russell, Grace Colefax, Andrew Christiansen, Fredrik Russell, George Fowler, Zoe Cagnazzi, Daniele |
author_sort |
Russell, Grace |
title |
Body condition and migration timing of east Australian humpback whales |
title_short |
Body condition and migration timing of east Australian humpback whales |
title_full |
Body condition and migration timing of east Australian humpback whales |
title_fullStr |
Body condition and migration timing of east Australian humpback whales |
title_full_unstemmed |
Body condition and migration timing of east Australian humpback whales |
title_sort |
body condition and migration timing of east australian humpback whales |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/publications/7bd9d9ad-b05c-4332-a773-ddce6aec3915 https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14075 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85133671456&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
genre |
baleen whale baleen whales Megaptera novaeangliae |
genre_facet |
baleen whale baleen whales Megaptera novaeangliae |
op_source |
Russell , G , Colefax , A , Christiansen , F , Russell , G , Fowler , Z & Cagnazzi , D 2022 , ' Body condition and migration timing of east Australian humpback whales ' , Marine Ecology Progress Series , vol. 692 , pp. 169-183 . https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14075 |
op_relation |
https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/publications/7bd9d9ad-b05c-4332-a773-ddce6aec3915 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14075 |
container_title |
Marine Ecology Progress Series |
container_volume |
692 |
container_start_page |
169 |
op_container_end_page |
183 |
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1799477405941760000 |