Quantifying the energy stores of capital breeding humpback whales and income breeding sperm whales using historical whaling records
Cetacean energy stores are known to vary according to life history, reproductive status and time of year; however, the opportunity to quantify these relationships is rare. Using a unique set of historical whaling records from Western Australia (1952–1963), we investigated energy stores of large ceta...
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ftunivtasmania:oai:eprints.utas.edu.au:38890 2023-05-15T13:42:39+02:00 Quantifying the energy stores of capital breeding humpback whales and income breeding sperm whales using historical whaling records Irvine, L Thums, M Hanson, CE McMahon, CR Hindell, MA 2017 application/pdf https://eprints.utas.edu.au/38890/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/38890/1/117141%20.pdf https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3709492.v3 en eng The Royal Society Publishing https://eprints.utas.edu.au/38890/1/117141%20.pdf Irvine, L, Thums, M, Hanson, CE, McMahon, CR and Hindell, MA orcid:0000-0002-7823-7185 2017 , 'Quantifying the energy stores of capital breeding humpback whales and income breeding sperm whales using historical whaling records' , Royal Society Open Science, vol. 4, no. 3 , pp. 1-15 , doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3709492.v3 <http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3709492.v3>. whales energetics bioenergetics body condition body lipid oil yield life history cetacean Article PeerReviewed 2017 ftunivtasmania https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3709492.v3 2021-12-13T23:18:00Z Cetacean energy stores are known to vary according to life history, reproductive status and time of year; however, the opportunity to quantify these relationships is rare. Using a unique set of historical whaling records from Western Australia (1952–1963), we investigated energy stores of large cetaceans with differing life histories, and quantified the relationship between total body lipid and length for humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) (n = 905) and sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) (n = 1961). We found that total body lipid increased with body length in both humpback and sperm whales, consistent with size-related energy stores. Male humpback whales stored 2.49 kl (15.6 barrels) (31.9–74.9%) more lipid than male sperm whales of equivalent length, to fuel their annual migration. Relative lipid stores of sperm whales (males) were constant throughout the year, while those of humpback whales varied with reproductive class and sampling date. Pregnant female humpback whales had higher relative energy stores than non-pregnant females and males (26.2% and 37.4%, respectively), to fuel the energy demands of gestation and lactation. Those that reached the sampling site later (en route to their breeding grounds) carried higher lipid stores than those that arrived earlier, possibly reflecting individual variation in residency times in the Antarctic feeding grounds. Importantly, longer pregnant females had relatively larger energy stores than the shorter pregnant females, indicating that the smaller individuals may experience higher levels of energetic stress during the migration fast. The relationships we developed between body lipid and length can be used to inform bioenergetics and ecosystem models when such detailed information is not available. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Megaptera novaeangliae Physeter macrocephalus University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints Antarctic The Antarctic |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasmania |
language |
English |
topic |
whales energetics bioenergetics body condition body lipid oil yield life history cetacean |
spellingShingle |
whales energetics bioenergetics body condition body lipid oil yield life history cetacean Irvine, L Thums, M Hanson, CE McMahon, CR Hindell, MA Quantifying the energy stores of capital breeding humpback whales and income breeding sperm whales using historical whaling records |
topic_facet |
whales energetics bioenergetics body condition body lipid oil yield life history cetacean |
description |
Cetacean energy stores are known to vary according to life history, reproductive status and time of year; however, the opportunity to quantify these relationships is rare. Using a unique set of historical whaling records from Western Australia (1952–1963), we investigated energy stores of large cetaceans with differing life histories, and quantified the relationship between total body lipid and length for humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) (n = 905) and sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) (n = 1961). We found that total body lipid increased with body length in both humpback and sperm whales, consistent with size-related energy stores. Male humpback whales stored 2.49 kl (15.6 barrels) (31.9–74.9%) more lipid than male sperm whales of equivalent length, to fuel their annual migration. Relative lipid stores of sperm whales (males) were constant throughout the year, while those of humpback whales varied with reproductive class and sampling date. Pregnant female humpback whales had higher relative energy stores than non-pregnant females and males (26.2% and 37.4%, respectively), to fuel the energy demands of gestation and lactation. Those that reached the sampling site later (en route to their breeding grounds) carried higher lipid stores than those that arrived earlier, possibly reflecting individual variation in residency times in the Antarctic feeding grounds. Importantly, longer pregnant females had relatively larger energy stores than the shorter pregnant females, indicating that the smaller individuals may experience higher levels of energetic stress during the migration fast. The relationships we developed between body lipid and length can be used to inform bioenergetics and ecosystem models when such detailed information is not available. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Irvine, L Thums, M Hanson, CE McMahon, CR Hindell, MA |
author_facet |
Irvine, L Thums, M Hanson, CE McMahon, CR Hindell, MA |
author_sort |
Irvine, L |
title |
Quantifying the energy stores of capital breeding humpback whales and income breeding sperm whales using historical whaling records |
title_short |
Quantifying the energy stores of capital breeding humpback whales and income breeding sperm whales using historical whaling records |
title_full |
Quantifying the energy stores of capital breeding humpback whales and income breeding sperm whales using historical whaling records |
title_fullStr |
Quantifying the energy stores of capital breeding humpback whales and income breeding sperm whales using historical whaling records |
title_full_unstemmed |
Quantifying the energy stores of capital breeding humpback whales and income breeding sperm whales using historical whaling records |
title_sort |
quantifying the energy stores of capital breeding humpback whales and income breeding sperm whales using historical whaling records |
publisher |
The Royal Society Publishing |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/38890/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/38890/1/117141%20.pdf https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3709492.v3 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Megaptera novaeangliae Physeter macrocephalus |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Megaptera novaeangliae Physeter macrocephalus |
op_relation |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/38890/1/117141%20.pdf Irvine, L, Thums, M, Hanson, CE, McMahon, CR and Hindell, MA orcid:0000-0002-7823-7185 2017 , 'Quantifying the energy stores of capital breeding humpback whales and income breeding sperm whales using historical whaling records' , Royal Society Open Science, vol. 4, no. 3 , pp. 1-15 , doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3709492.v3 <http://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3709492.v3>. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3709492.v3 |
_version_ |
1766170729128132608 |