Feeding habits of a new Arctic predator:Insight from full-depth blubber fatty acid signatures of Greenland, Faroe Islands, Denmark, and managed-care killer whales Orcinus orca
An increasing number of North Atlantic killer whales Orcinus orca have recently been observed in sub-Arctic and Arctic seas. Within these regions, marine mammal consumption appears frequent relative to the more fish-based diet within traditional habitats. To provide insight into feeding habits of No...
Published in: | Marine Ecology Progress Series |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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2018
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ftuniaarhuspubl:oai:pure.atira.dk:publications/869450f8-157c-4e27-8232-c9de32bf25c0 2023-05-15T14:26:38+02:00 Feeding habits of a new Arctic predator:Insight from full-depth blubber fatty acid signatures of Greenland, Faroe Islands, Denmark, and managed-care killer whales Orcinus orca Bourque, Jennifer Dietz, Rune Sonne, Christian St. Leger, Judy Iverson, Sara Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu Hansen, Martin McKinney, Melissa A. 2018-09-17 application/pdf https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/feeding-habits-of-a-new-arctic-predator(869450f8-157c-4e27-8232-c9de32bf25c0).html https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12723 https://pure.au.dk/ws/files/133220350/m603p001.pdf http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85053460900&partnerID=8YFLogxK eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Bourque , J , Dietz , R , Sonne , C , St. Leger , J , Iverson , S , Rosing-Asvid , A , Hansen , M & McKinney , M A 2018 , ' Feeding habits of a new Arctic predator : Insight from full-depth blubber fatty acid signatures of Greenland, Faroe Islands, Denmark, and managed-care killer whales Orcinus orca ' , Marine Ecology Progress Series , vol. 603 , pp. 1-12 . https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12723 Arctic marine ecology Climate change Diet composition Fatty acid signatures Foraging ecology Killer whale Marine mammal North Atlantic Species distribution article 2018 ftuniaarhuspubl https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12723 2020-10-14T22:45:07Z An increasing number of North Atlantic killer whales Orcinus orca have recently been observed in sub-Arctic and Arctic seas. Within these regions, marine mammal consumption appears frequent relative to the more fish-based diet within traditional habitats. To provide insight into feeding habits of Northward range-expanding killer whales, full-depth blubber fatty acid signatures from 21 free-ranging killer whales from Southeast Greenland, Faroe Islands, and Denmark were compared to those of 4 managed-care killer whales, which were fed a constant, long-term fish diet. We analyzed the entire blubber layer in 10 equal-length subsections to evaluate how fatty acid stratification throughout blubber depth May influence fatty acid-based feeding evaluations. Specific fatty acid markers previously linked to marine mammal feeding in other killer whale populations were significantly higher in free-ranging killer whales relative to managed-care individuals, suggesting that marine mammals represent a time-integrated component of free-ranging killer whales’ diet. Unlike the managed-care whales, fatty acid signatures were highly variable among the free-ranging killer whales, suggesting that either they are generalists or exhibit inter-individual feeding variation. All samples, regardless of origin, showed stratification of fatty acid signatures through blubber layers. Dietary fatty acids generally occurred in higher proportions and were more variable in the innermost layers for the free-ranging whales. These data suggest that superficial blubber sampling through biopsy darting May not capture fine-scale and/or short-term variation in diet, and therefore the sampling approach should be carefully considered in research using fatty acids to evaluate feeding ecology of killer whales and other cetaceans. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Climate change Faroe Islands Greenland Killer Whale North Atlantic Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale Aarhus University: Research Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland Marine Ecology Progress Series 603 1 12 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Aarhus University: Research |
op_collection_id |
ftuniaarhuspubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic marine ecology Climate change Diet composition Fatty acid signatures Foraging ecology Killer whale Marine mammal North Atlantic Species distribution |
spellingShingle |
Arctic marine ecology Climate change Diet composition Fatty acid signatures Foraging ecology Killer whale Marine mammal North Atlantic Species distribution Bourque, Jennifer Dietz, Rune Sonne, Christian St. Leger, Judy Iverson, Sara Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu Hansen, Martin McKinney, Melissa A. Feeding habits of a new Arctic predator:Insight from full-depth blubber fatty acid signatures of Greenland, Faroe Islands, Denmark, and managed-care killer whales Orcinus orca |
topic_facet |
Arctic marine ecology Climate change Diet composition Fatty acid signatures Foraging ecology Killer whale Marine mammal North Atlantic Species distribution |
description |
An increasing number of North Atlantic killer whales Orcinus orca have recently been observed in sub-Arctic and Arctic seas. Within these regions, marine mammal consumption appears frequent relative to the more fish-based diet within traditional habitats. To provide insight into feeding habits of Northward range-expanding killer whales, full-depth blubber fatty acid signatures from 21 free-ranging killer whales from Southeast Greenland, Faroe Islands, and Denmark were compared to those of 4 managed-care killer whales, which were fed a constant, long-term fish diet. We analyzed the entire blubber layer in 10 equal-length subsections to evaluate how fatty acid stratification throughout blubber depth May influence fatty acid-based feeding evaluations. Specific fatty acid markers previously linked to marine mammal feeding in other killer whale populations were significantly higher in free-ranging killer whales relative to managed-care individuals, suggesting that marine mammals represent a time-integrated component of free-ranging killer whales’ diet. Unlike the managed-care whales, fatty acid signatures were highly variable among the free-ranging killer whales, suggesting that either they are generalists or exhibit inter-individual feeding variation. All samples, regardless of origin, showed stratification of fatty acid signatures through blubber layers. Dietary fatty acids generally occurred in higher proportions and were more variable in the innermost layers for the free-ranging whales. These data suggest that superficial blubber sampling through biopsy darting May not capture fine-scale and/or short-term variation in diet, and therefore the sampling approach should be carefully considered in research using fatty acids to evaluate feeding ecology of killer whales and other cetaceans. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bourque, Jennifer Dietz, Rune Sonne, Christian St. Leger, Judy Iverson, Sara Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu Hansen, Martin McKinney, Melissa A. |
author_facet |
Bourque, Jennifer Dietz, Rune Sonne, Christian St. Leger, Judy Iverson, Sara Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu Hansen, Martin McKinney, Melissa A. |
author_sort |
Bourque, Jennifer |
title |
Feeding habits of a new Arctic predator:Insight from full-depth blubber fatty acid signatures of Greenland, Faroe Islands, Denmark, and managed-care killer whales Orcinus orca |
title_short |
Feeding habits of a new Arctic predator:Insight from full-depth blubber fatty acid signatures of Greenland, Faroe Islands, Denmark, and managed-care killer whales Orcinus orca |
title_full |
Feeding habits of a new Arctic predator:Insight from full-depth blubber fatty acid signatures of Greenland, Faroe Islands, Denmark, and managed-care killer whales Orcinus orca |
title_fullStr |
Feeding habits of a new Arctic predator:Insight from full-depth blubber fatty acid signatures of Greenland, Faroe Islands, Denmark, and managed-care killer whales Orcinus orca |
title_full_unstemmed |
Feeding habits of a new Arctic predator:Insight from full-depth blubber fatty acid signatures of Greenland, Faroe Islands, Denmark, and managed-care killer whales Orcinus orca |
title_sort |
feeding habits of a new arctic predator:insight from full-depth blubber fatty acid signatures of greenland, faroe islands, denmark, and managed-care killer whales orcinus orca |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/feeding-habits-of-a-new-arctic-predator(869450f8-157c-4e27-8232-c9de32bf25c0).html https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12723 https://pure.au.dk/ws/files/133220350/m603p001.pdf http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85053460900&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
geographic |
Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Climate change Faroe Islands Greenland Killer Whale North Atlantic Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Climate change Faroe Islands Greenland Killer Whale North Atlantic Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale |
op_source |
Bourque , J , Dietz , R , Sonne , C , St. Leger , J , Iverson , S , Rosing-Asvid , A , Hansen , M & McKinney , M A 2018 , ' Feeding habits of a new Arctic predator : Insight from full-depth blubber fatty acid signatures of Greenland, Faroe Islands, Denmark, and managed-care killer whales Orcinus orca ' , Marine Ecology Progress Series , vol. 603 , pp. 1-12 . https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12723 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12723 |
container_title |
Marine Ecology Progress Series |
container_volume |
603 |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
12 |
_version_ |
1766299910367346688 |