A new insight into southern right whale reproduction via baleen endocrine and stable isotope analysis

Dissertation (MSc (Zoology))--University of Pretoria, 2022. As capital breeders, southern right whales (Eubalaena australis; hereafter SRW) migrate from offshore summer feeding areas to coastal winter calving grounds. Although SRW population parameters are well studied in coastal regions, far less i...

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Other Authors: Ganswindt, Andre, Vermeulen, Els, Shuttleworth, Loraine
Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/88937
https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.21940529
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record_format openpolar
spelling ftunivpretoria:oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/88937 2023-10-09T21:56:04+02:00 A new insight into southern right whale reproduction via baleen endocrine and stable isotope analysis Ganswindt, Andre Vermeulen, Els Shuttleworth, Loraine 2023-04 application/pdf https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/88937 https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.21940529 en eng University of Pretoria * A2023 https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/88937 doi:10.25403/UPresearchdata.21940529 © 2022 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Southern Ocean Reproduction Climate change Southern right whale Cetacean UCTD Dissertation 2023 ftunivpretoria https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.21940529 2023-09-19T00:30:00Z Dissertation (MSc (Zoology))--University of Pretoria, 2022. As capital breeders, southern right whales (Eubalaena australis; hereafter SRW) migrate from offshore summer feeding areas to coastal winter calving grounds. Although SRW population parameters are well studied in coastal regions, far less is known regarding their offshore activities. As a result, their foraging ecology and reproductive cycles are still poorly understood. Over the past decade, the South African population of SRWs has experienced a reproductive decline concurrent with a shift in their foraging strategy and an overall decrease in maternal body condition. These findings are hypothesised to be linked to climate change and the subsequent effects on prey availability. Considering that foraging success drives reproductive success, and ultimately population recovery in these capital breeders, the link between foraging ecology and reproduction needs to be better understood. Therefore, baleen plates of whales that stranded along the South African coast between 1987 and 2020 were sampled at regular intervals to create longitudinal stable isotope (δ15N and δ13C) and reproductive endocrine (oestrogen and progestagen) profiles. First, long-term foraging behaviour and preliminary insights into niche partitioning were evaluated using stable isotope analysis. The longitudinal isotope profiles showed north-south movement for most individuals, characteristic of migration between feeding- and calving grounds. There were, however, some individuals that appeared to not migrate at all. Results further suggested that demographic groups with higher energy requirements such as post-partum females and juveniles may be more restricted in their foraging compared to other groups but, due to the small sample size, these results are preliminary. The results of these analyses are pertinent for understanding how different groups may respond to climate-induced changes in prey availability, particularly with respect to reproduction. Then, using the same baleen plates of ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Southern Ocean Southern Right Whale University of Pretoria: UPSpace Southern Ocean
institution Open Polar
collection University of Pretoria: UPSpace
op_collection_id ftunivpretoria
language English
topic Southern Ocean
Reproduction
Climate change
Southern right whale
Cetacean
UCTD
spellingShingle Southern Ocean
Reproduction
Climate change
Southern right whale
Cetacean
UCTD
A new insight into southern right whale reproduction via baleen endocrine and stable isotope analysis
topic_facet Southern Ocean
Reproduction
Climate change
Southern right whale
Cetacean
UCTD
description Dissertation (MSc (Zoology))--University of Pretoria, 2022. As capital breeders, southern right whales (Eubalaena australis; hereafter SRW) migrate from offshore summer feeding areas to coastal winter calving grounds. Although SRW population parameters are well studied in coastal regions, far less is known regarding their offshore activities. As a result, their foraging ecology and reproductive cycles are still poorly understood. Over the past decade, the South African population of SRWs has experienced a reproductive decline concurrent with a shift in their foraging strategy and an overall decrease in maternal body condition. These findings are hypothesised to be linked to climate change and the subsequent effects on prey availability. Considering that foraging success drives reproductive success, and ultimately population recovery in these capital breeders, the link between foraging ecology and reproduction needs to be better understood. Therefore, baleen plates of whales that stranded along the South African coast between 1987 and 2020 were sampled at regular intervals to create longitudinal stable isotope (δ15N and δ13C) and reproductive endocrine (oestrogen and progestagen) profiles. First, long-term foraging behaviour and preliminary insights into niche partitioning were evaluated using stable isotope analysis. The longitudinal isotope profiles showed north-south movement for most individuals, characteristic of migration between feeding- and calving grounds. There were, however, some individuals that appeared to not migrate at all. Results further suggested that demographic groups with higher energy requirements such as post-partum females and juveniles may be more restricted in their foraging compared to other groups but, due to the small sample size, these results are preliminary. The results of these analyses are pertinent for understanding how different groups may respond to climate-induced changes in prey availability, particularly with respect to reproduction. Then, using the same baleen plates of ...
author2 Ganswindt, Andre
Vermeulen, Els
Shuttleworth, Loraine
format Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
title A new insight into southern right whale reproduction via baleen endocrine and stable isotope analysis
title_short A new insight into southern right whale reproduction via baleen endocrine and stable isotope analysis
title_full A new insight into southern right whale reproduction via baleen endocrine and stable isotope analysis
title_fullStr A new insight into southern right whale reproduction via baleen endocrine and stable isotope analysis
title_full_unstemmed A new insight into southern right whale reproduction via baleen endocrine and stable isotope analysis
title_sort new insight into southern right whale reproduction via baleen endocrine and stable isotope analysis
publisher University of Pretoria
publishDate 2023
url https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/88937
https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.21940529
geographic Southern Ocean
geographic_facet Southern Ocean
genre Southern Ocean
Southern Right Whale
genre_facet Southern Ocean
Southern Right Whale
op_relation *
A2023
https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/88937
doi:10.25403/UPresearchdata.21940529
op_rights © 2022 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
op_doi https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.21940529
_version_ 1779320462828896256