| Summary: | Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2017 Beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) are found across the Arctic and Subarctic in seasonally ice covered waters. Five stocks of beluga whales are associated with the waters near Alaska for at least part of the year and four of those five stocks are abundant and commonly hunted by Alaskan Natives. The belugas resident in Cook Inlet are also an important cultural and subsistence resource to Alaskan Natives in the area, but a ~50% decline in abundance in the 1990's led to the stock being designated as depleted under the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 2000 and listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 2008. Numerous studies of beluga whales in relation to stranding events, predation (killer whales), parasitism, disease, contaminants, and other potential population threats have not identified the reason for their inability to recover. Changes in diet have been considered, but are difficult to study because observations of feeding in muddy water and beluga stomachs are difficult to obtain. To investigate the past feeding ecology of beluga whales from Cook Inlet I sampled bone and teeth for isotopic analyses. I sampled bone from 20 individuals that died between 1964 and 2007 for stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis (values expressed as δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values). I also micro-sampled annual growth layer groups in the teeth of 26 individuals representing the years from 1962 to 2007. Bone and tooth data showed a general decrease in δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values over time. The δ¹³C values from analyses of growth layer groups declined from -13.4‰ to -16.2‰ and δ¹⁵N values declined from 17.2‰ to 15.4‰. Although these values are consistent with a change in feeding ecology over time, the magnitude of the decrease in δ¹⁵N values (~2‰) is insufficient for a full trophic level shift (~3‰).The relatively large decrease in the δ¹³C values over the same time period (~3‰), however, is much greater than a full trophic level shift (~1‰) and suggests an increase in prey ...
|
|---|