期刊
MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES
卷 469, 期 -, 页码 161-174出版社
INTER-RESEARCH
DOI: 10.3354/meps10004
关键词
Canadian Arctic; Bowhead whale; Diet; Foraging behaviour; Marine mammal; Zooplankton; Stable isotopes; Bayesian mixing model; SIAR; Trophic ecology
资金
- Canadian International Polar Year project C3O
- Canadian International Polar Year project CFL
- Canadian International Polar Year project GWAMM
- Nunavut Wildlife Research Trust Fund
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada
- UQAR
- Weston Garfield scholarship
The eastern Canada-West Greenland (EC-WG) bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus population is slowly recovering from the intensive commercial whaling of the 18th and 20th centuries. However, climate change, through effects on ice conditions and prey availability, is one of several threats that might affect bowhead whale recovery. In this study, we exploited the variability observed in isotopic signatures of prey assemblages across the eastern Arctic to examine variability in diet among bowhead whales (n = 202) and identify their potential foraging areas. We compared delta C-13 and delta N-15 isotope ratios of biopsied skin samples with those of potential zooplankton prey species collected across the Canadian eastern Arctic, and calculated the proportional contributions of various sources (zooplankton) to the diet of bowhead whales using a Bayesian stable isotope mixing model. A cluster analysis indicated some variability in isotopic composition among groups of individuals, but not between males and females or age classes. The isotopic model discounted Davis Strait and Disko Bay as potential foraging areas for bowhead whales, at least in spring and summer. Lancaster Sound, Baffin Bay and the Gulf of Boothia were the 3 main areas likely used for summer feeding, where bowhead whales fed primarily on large Arctic calanoid copepods (Calanus hyperboreus, C. glacialis, Metridia longa, and Paraeuchaeta spp.), mysids and euphausiids. While some inter-individual variability in diet was observed, the strong dependence of this endemic Arctic species on Arctic zooplankton may make them vulnerable to the predicted latitudinal shift in prey species composition caused by ongoing warming.
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