Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis reveals a high level of dietary specialization in killer whales across the North Atlantic
Quantifying the diet composition of apex marine predators such as killer whales (Orcinus orca) is critical to assessing their food web impacts. Yet, with few exceptions, the feeding ecology of these apex predators remains poorly understood. Here, we use our newly validated quantitative fatty acid si...
Published in: | Journal of Animal Ecology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2023
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/30304 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13920 |
id |
ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/30304 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/30304 2023-09-26T15:15:00+02:00 Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis reveals a high level of dietary specialization in killer whales across the North Atlantic Remili, Anaïs Dietz, Rune Sonne, Christian Samarra, Filipa I. P. Rikardsen, Audun H. Kettemer, Lisa Elena Ferguson, Steven H. Watt, Cortney A. Matthews, Cory J. D. Kiszka, Jeremy J. Jourdain, Eve Marie Borgå, Katrine Ruus, Anders Granquist, Sandra M. Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu McKinney, Melissa A. 2023-04-13 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/30304 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13920 eng eng Wiley Journal of Animal Ecology Remili, Dietz, Sonne, Samarra, Rikardsen, Kettemer, Ferguson, Watt, Matthews, Kiszka, Jourdain, Borgå, Ruus, Granquist, Rosing-Asvid, McKinney. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis reveals a high level of dietary specialization in killer whales across the North Atlantic. Journal of Animal Ecology. 2023 FRIDAID 2145387 doi:10.1111/1365-2656.13920 0021-8790 1365-2656 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/30304 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) openAccess Copyright 2023 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed publishedVersion 2023 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13920 2023-08-30T23:07:24Z Quantifying the diet composition of apex marine predators such as killer whales (Orcinus orca) is critical to assessing their food web impacts. Yet, with few exceptions, the feeding ecology of these apex predators remains poorly understood. Here, we use our newly validated quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) approach on nearly 200 killer whales and over 900 potential prey to model their diets across the 5000 km span of the North Atlantic. Diet estimates show that killer whales mainly consume other whales in the western North Atlantic (Canadian Arctic, Eastern Canada), seals in the mid-North Atlantic (Greenland), and fish in the eastern North Atlantic (Iceland, Faroe Islands, Norway). Nonetheless, diet estimates also varied widely among individuals within most regions. This level of inter-individual feeding variation should be considered for future ecological studies focusing on killer whales in the North Atlantic and other oceans. These estimates reveal remarkable population- and individual-level variation in the trophic ecology of these killer whales, which can help to assess how their predation impacts community and ecosystem dynamics in changing North Atlantic marine ecosystems. This new approach provides researchers with an invaluable tool to study the feeding ecology of oceanic top predators. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland Iceland North Atlantic Orca Orcinus orca University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Arctic Canada Faroe Islands Greenland Norway Journal of Animal Ecology 92 6 1216 1229 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
description |
Quantifying the diet composition of apex marine predators such as killer whales (Orcinus orca) is critical to assessing their food web impacts. Yet, with few exceptions, the feeding ecology of these apex predators remains poorly understood. Here, we use our newly validated quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) approach on nearly 200 killer whales and over 900 potential prey to model their diets across the 5000 km span of the North Atlantic. Diet estimates show that killer whales mainly consume other whales in the western North Atlantic (Canadian Arctic, Eastern Canada), seals in the mid-North Atlantic (Greenland), and fish in the eastern North Atlantic (Iceland, Faroe Islands, Norway). Nonetheless, diet estimates also varied widely among individuals within most regions. This level of inter-individual feeding variation should be considered for future ecological studies focusing on killer whales in the North Atlantic and other oceans. These estimates reveal remarkable population- and individual-level variation in the trophic ecology of these killer whales, which can help to assess how their predation impacts community and ecosystem dynamics in changing North Atlantic marine ecosystems. This new approach provides researchers with an invaluable tool to study the feeding ecology of oceanic top predators. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Remili, Anaïs Dietz, Rune Sonne, Christian Samarra, Filipa I. P. Rikardsen, Audun H. Kettemer, Lisa Elena Ferguson, Steven H. Watt, Cortney A. Matthews, Cory J. D. Kiszka, Jeremy J. Jourdain, Eve Marie Borgå, Katrine Ruus, Anders Granquist, Sandra M. Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu McKinney, Melissa A. |
spellingShingle |
Remili, Anaïs Dietz, Rune Sonne, Christian Samarra, Filipa I. P. Rikardsen, Audun H. Kettemer, Lisa Elena Ferguson, Steven H. Watt, Cortney A. Matthews, Cory J. D. Kiszka, Jeremy J. Jourdain, Eve Marie Borgå, Katrine Ruus, Anders Granquist, Sandra M. Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu McKinney, Melissa A. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis reveals a high level of dietary specialization in killer whales across the North Atlantic |
author_facet |
Remili, Anaïs Dietz, Rune Sonne, Christian Samarra, Filipa I. P. Rikardsen, Audun H. Kettemer, Lisa Elena Ferguson, Steven H. Watt, Cortney A. Matthews, Cory J. D. Kiszka, Jeremy J. Jourdain, Eve Marie Borgå, Katrine Ruus, Anders Granquist, Sandra M. Rosing-Asvid, Aqqalu McKinney, Melissa A. |
author_sort |
Remili, Anaïs |
title |
Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis reveals a high level of dietary specialization in killer whales across the North Atlantic |
title_short |
Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis reveals a high level of dietary specialization in killer whales across the North Atlantic |
title_full |
Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis reveals a high level of dietary specialization in killer whales across the North Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis reveals a high level of dietary specialization in killer whales across the North Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis reveals a high level of dietary specialization in killer whales across the North Atlantic |
title_sort |
quantitative fatty acid signature analysis reveals a high level of dietary specialization in killer whales across the north atlantic |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/30304 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13920 |
geographic |
Arctic Canada Faroe Islands Greenland Norway |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada Faroe Islands Greenland Norway |
genre |
Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland Iceland North Atlantic Orca Orcinus orca |
genre_facet |
Arctic Faroe Islands Greenland Iceland North Atlantic Orca Orcinus orca |
op_relation |
Journal of Animal Ecology Remili, Dietz, Sonne, Samarra, Rikardsen, Kettemer, Ferguson, Watt, Matthews, Kiszka, Jourdain, Borgå, Ruus, Granquist, Rosing-Asvid, McKinney. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis reveals a high level of dietary specialization in killer whales across the North Atlantic. Journal of Animal Ecology. 2023 FRIDAID 2145387 doi:10.1111/1365-2656.13920 0021-8790 1365-2656 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/30304 |
op_rights |
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) openAccess Copyright 2023 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13920 |
container_title |
Journal of Animal Ecology |
container_volume |
92 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1216 |
op_container_end_page |
1229 |
_version_ |
1778135944849784832 |