Ocean Regime Shift Is Driving Collapse of the North Atlantic Right Whale Population
Ocean warming linked to anthropogenic climate change is impacting the ecology of marine species around the world. In 2010, the Gulf of Maine and Scotian Shelf regions of the Northwest Atlantic underwent an unprecedented regime shift. Forced by climate-driven changes in the Gulf Stream, warm slope wa...
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ftunivsouthcar:oai:scholarcommons.sc.edu:geol_facpub-1210 2024-09-15T18:05:10+00:00 Ocean Regime Shift Is Driving Collapse of the North Atlantic Right Whale Population Meyer-Gutbrod, Erin L. Greene, Charles H. Davies, Kimberley T.A. Johns, David G. 2021-08-31T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/geol_facpub/200 https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2021.308; https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/context/geol_facpub/article/1210/viewcontent/34_3_meyer_gutbrod.pdf English eng Scholar Commons https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/geol_facpub/200 doi: https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2021.308 https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/context/geol_facpub/article/1210/viewcontent/34_3_meyer_gutbrod.pdf This is an open access article made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format as long as users cite the materials appropriately, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate the changes that were made to the original content. Images, animations, videos, or other third-party material used in articles are included in the Creative Commons license unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If the material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission directly from the license holder to reproduce the material. Faculty Publications eubalaena-glacialis decadal variability marine heatwaves climate changes shelf gulf adaptation recovery risk Earth Sciences text 2021 ftunivsouthcar https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2021.308;10.5670/oceanog.2021.308 2024-08-06T23:37:20Z Ocean warming linked to anthropogenic climate change is impacting the ecology of marine species around the world. In 2010, the Gulf of Maine and Scotian Shelf regions of the Northwest Atlantic underwent an unprecedented regime shift. Forced by climate-driven changes in the Gulf Stream, warm slope waters entered the region and created a less favorable foraging environment for the endangered North Atlantic right whale population. By mid-decade, right whales had shifted their late spring/summer foraging grounds from the Gulf of Maine and the western Scotian Shelf to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The population also began exhibiting unusually high mortality in 2017. Here, we report that climate-driven changes in ocean circulation have altered the foraging environment and habitat use of right whales, reducing the population’s calving rate and exposing it to greater mortality risks from ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement. The case of the North Atlantic right whale provides a cautionary tale for the management of protected species in a changing ocean. Text Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale Northwest Atlantic University of South Carolina Libraries: Scholar Commons |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of South Carolina Libraries: Scholar Commons |
op_collection_id |
ftunivsouthcar |
language |
English |
topic |
eubalaena-glacialis decadal variability marine heatwaves climate changes shelf gulf adaptation recovery risk Earth Sciences |
spellingShingle |
eubalaena-glacialis decadal variability marine heatwaves climate changes shelf gulf adaptation recovery risk Earth Sciences Meyer-Gutbrod, Erin L. Greene, Charles H. Davies, Kimberley T.A. Johns, David G. Ocean Regime Shift Is Driving Collapse of the North Atlantic Right Whale Population |
topic_facet |
eubalaena-glacialis decadal variability marine heatwaves climate changes shelf gulf adaptation recovery risk Earth Sciences |
description |
Ocean warming linked to anthropogenic climate change is impacting the ecology of marine species around the world. In 2010, the Gulf of Maine and Scotian Shelf regions of the Northwest Atlantic underwent an unprecedented regime shift. Forced by climate-driven changes in the Gulf Stream, warm slope waters entered the region and created a less favorable foraging environment for the endangered North Atlantic right whale population. By mid-decade, right whales had shifted their late spring/summer foraging grounds from the Gulf of Maine and the western Scotian Shelf to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The population also began exhibiting unusually high mortality in 2017. Here, we report that climate-driven changes in ocean circulation have altered the foraging environment and habitat use of right whales, reducing the population’s calving rate and exposing it to greater mortality risks from ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement. The case of the North Atlantic right whale provides a cautionary tale for the management of protected species in a changing ocean. |
format |
Text |
author |
Meyer-Gutbrod, Erin L. Greene, Charles H. Davies, Kimberley T.A. Johns, David G. |
author_facet |
Meyer-Gutbrod, Erin L. Greene, Charles H. Davies, Kimberley T.A. Johns, David G. |
author_sort |
Meyer-Gutbrod, Erin L. |
title |
Ocean Regime Shift Is Driving Collapse of the North Atlantic Right Whale Population |
title_short |
Ocean Regime Shift Is Driving Collapse of the North Atlantic Right Whale Population |
title_full |
Ocean Regime Shift Is Driving Collapse of the North Atlantic Right Whale Population |
title_fullStr |
Ocean Regime Shift Is Driving Collapse of the North Atlantic Right Whale Population |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ocean Regime Shift Is Driving Collapse of the North Atlantic Right Whale Population |
title_sort |
ocean regime shift is driving collapse of the north atlantic right whale population |
publisher |
Scholar Commons |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/geol_facpub/200 https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2021.308; https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/context/geol_facpub/article/1210/viewcontent/34_3_meyer_gutbrod.pdf |
genre |
Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale Northwest Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Eubalaena glacialis North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale Northwest Atlantic |
op_source |
Faculty Publications |
op_relation |
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/geol_facpub/200 doi: https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2021.308 https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/context/geol_facpub/article/1210/viewcontent/34_3_meyer_gutbrod.pdf |
op_rights |
This is an open access article made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format as long as users cite the materials appropriately, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate the changes that were made to the original content. Images, animations, videos, or other third-party material used in articles are included in the Creative Commons license unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If the material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission directly from the license holder to reproduce the material. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2021.308;10.5670/oceanog.2021.308 |
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1810442742518513664 |