Alongside but separate : Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores
Fin whales and sei whales are two migratory baleen whale species sighted every year across the waters of the Azores. Improved understanding of the ecological niche and habitat requirements of these baleen whales is needed to identify persistent or predictable oceanographic events that may set the ti...
Published in: | Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers |
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/267820 http://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/6523 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 |
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ftunivacores:oai:repositorio.uac.pt:10400.3/6523 2023-05-15T15:37:00+02:00 Alongside but separate : Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores González García, Laura Pierce, Graham J. Autret, Emmanuelle Torres-Palenzuela, Jesús M. 2022-06 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/267820 http://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/6523 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 eng eng Elsevier https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967063722000796 González García, L., Pierce, G. J., Autret, E., & Torres-Palenzuela, J. M. (2022). Alongside but separate: sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores. "Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers", 184, 103766. DOI:10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 0967-0637 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/267820 http://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/6523 doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 1879-0119 000793827700001 openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Marine Mammals Habitat Selection Modelling Azores Baleen Whales GAMs article 2022 ftunivacores https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 2022-12-28T01:01:56Z Fin whales and sei whales are two migratory baleen whale species sighted every year across the waters of the Azores. Improved understanding of the ecological niche and habitat requirements of these baleen whales is needed to identify persistent or predictable oceanographic events that may set the time of their migration, as well as local or ephemeral oceanographic features that may aggregate their prey in a particular area. In dynamic environments such as the open ocean, mesoscale and submesoscale features can become decisive to determine the distributions of highly mobile species such as baleen whales. In this study, we analyse the habitat preferences of fin whales and sei whales around São Miguel Island (Azores) using environmental variables at different temporal and spatial scales. For both species, model results showed a clear influence of variables linked with primary production and therefore, prey availability; as well as a noticeable preference for oceanographically dynamic areas which directly affect distribution and aggregation of prey. Those environmental choices may indicate different levels of foraging habitat use for both species. Differences were found between the species, highlighting preferences for colder waters in fin whales and areas with stronger sea surface temperature gradients in sei whales. Model results obtained for fin whales were similar with those previously published for blue whales, suggesting that both species make similar use of the waters around São Miguel, often foraging during the migration across these waters. Results for sei whale, however, emphasize dynamic variables, indicating that travelling may prevail over feeding behaviour during their migration by the Azores. This work was supported by the Applied Physics Department of the Universidad de Vigo (Spain); a predoctoral grant from Conselleria de Cultura, Educacion e Ordenacion Universitaria, Xunta de Galicia [Modalidade B] (PRE/2013/409); and a grant from LabexMER action for young researchers in 2016. ... Article in Journal/Newspaper baleen whale baleen whales Sei Whale Repositório da Universidade dos Açores Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 184 103766 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Repositório da Universidade dos Açores |
op_collection_id |
ftunivacores |
language |
English |
topic |
Marine Mammals Habitat Selection Modelling Azores Baleen Whales GAMs |
spellingShingle |
Marine Mammals Habitat Selection Modelling Azores Baleen Whales GAMs González García, Laura Pierce, Graham J. Autret, Emmanuelle Torres-Palenzuela, Jesús M. Alongside but separate : Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores |
topic_facet |
Marine Mammals Habitat Selection Modelling Azores Baleen Whales GAMs |
description |
Fin whales and sei whales are two migratory baleen whale species sighted every year across the waters of the Azores. Improved understanding of the ecological niche and habitat requirements of these baleen whales is needed to identify persistent or predictable oceanographic events that may set the time of their migration, as well as local or ephemeral oceanographic features that may aggregate their prey in a particular area. In dynamic environments such as the open ocean, mesoscale and submesoscale features can become decisive to determine the distributions of highly mobile species such as baleen whales. In this study, we analyse the habitat preferences of fin whales and sei whales around São Miguel Island (Azores) using environmental variables at different temporal and spatial scales. For both species, model results showed a clear influence of variables linked with primary production and therefore, prey availability; as well as a noticeable preference for oceanographically dynamic areas which directly affect distribution and aggregation of prey. Those environmental choices may indicate different levels of foraging habitat use for both species. Differences were found between the species, highlighting preferences for colder waters in fin whales and areas with stronger sea surface temperature gradients in sei whales. Model results obtained for fin whales were similar with those previously published for blue whales, suggesting that both species make similar use of the waters around São Miguel, often foraging during the migration across these waters. Results for sei whale, however, emphasize dynamic variables, indicating that travelling may prevail over feeding behaviour during their migration by the Azores. This work was supported by the Applied Physics Department of the Universidad de Vigo (Spain); a predoctoral grant from Conselleria de Cultura, Educacion e Ordenacion Universitaria, Xunta de Galicia [Modalidade B] (PRE/2013/409); and a grant from LabexMER action for young researchers in 2016. ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
González García, Laura Pierce, Graham J. Autret, Emmanuelle Torres-Palenzuela, Jesús M. |
author_facet |
González García, Laura Pierce, Graham J. Autret, Emmanuelle Torres-Palenzuela, Jesús M. |
author_sort |
González García, Laura |
title |
Alongside but separate : Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores |
title_short |
Alongside but separate : Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores |
title_full |
Alongside but separate : Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores |
title_fullStr |
Alongside but separate : Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores |
title_full_unstemmed |
Alongside but separate : Sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores |
title_sort |
alongside but separate : sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in são miguel, azores |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/267820 http://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/6523 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 |
genre |
baleen whale baleen whales Sei Whale |
genre_facet |
baleen whale baleen whales Sei Whale |
op_relation |
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967063722000796 González García, L., Pierce, G. J., Autret, E., & Torres-Palenzuela, J. M. (2022). Alongside but separate: sympatric baleen whales choose different habitat conditions in São Miguel, Azores. "Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers", 184, 103766. DOI:10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 0967-0637 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/267820 http://hdl.handle.net/10400.3/6523 doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 1879-0119 000793827700001 |
op_rights |
openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2022.103766 |
container_title |
Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers |
container_volume |
184 |
container_start_page |
103766 |
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1766367434659332096 |