TY - JOUR
T1 - Isotope-based inferences of the seasonal foraging and migratory strategies of blue whales in the eastern Pacific Ocean
AU - Busquets-Vass, Geraldine
AU - Newsome, Seth D.
AU - Pardo, Mario A.
AU - Calambokidis, John
AU - Aguíñiga-García, Sergio
AU - Páez-Rosas, Diego
AU - Gómez-Gutiérrez, Jaime
AU - Enríquez-Paredes, Luis M.
AU - Gendron, Diane
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - Migratory marine megafauna generally move vast distances between productive foraging grounds and environmentally stable breeding grounds, but characterizing how they use these habitats to maintain homeostasis and reproduce is difficult. We used isotope analysis of blue whale skin strata (n = 621) and potential prey (n = 300) to examine their migratory and foraging strategies in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Our results suggest that most whales in the northeast Pacific use a mixed income and capital breeding strategy, and use the California Current Ecosystem as their primary summer-fall foraging ground. A subset of individuals exhibited migratory plasticity and spend most of the year in the Gulf of California or Costa Rica Dome, two regions believed to be their primary winter-spring breeding grounds. Isotope data also revealed that whales in the southern Eastern Tropical Pacific generally do not forage in the northeast Pacific, which suggests a north-south population structure with a boundary near the equator.
AB - Migratory marine megafauna generally move vast distances between productive foraging grounds and environmentally stable breeding grounds, but characterizing how they use these habitats to maintain homeostasis and reproduce is difficult. We used isotope analysis of blue whale skin strata (n = 621) and potential prey (n = 300) to examine their migratory and foraging strategies in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Our results suggest that most whales in the northeast Pacific use a mixed income and capital breeding strategy, and use the California Current Ecosystem as their primary summer-fall foraging ground. A subset of individuals exhibited migratory plasticity and spend most of the year in the Gulf of California or Costa Rica Dome, two regions believed to be their primary winter-spring breeding grounds. Isotope data also revealed that whales in the southern Eastern Tropical Pacific generally do not forage in the northeast Pacific, which suggests a north-south population structure with a boundary near the equator.
KW - Balaenoptera musculus
KW - Behavior
KW - Foraging ecology
KW - Isotope mixing models
KW - Marine ecology
KW - Population dynamics
KW - Trophic overlap
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85095613109&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.105201
DO - 10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.105201
M3 - Artículo
C2 - 33162117
AN - SCOPUS:85095613109
SN - 0141-1136
VL - 163
JO - Marine Environmental Research
JF - Marine Environmental Research
M1 - 105201
ER -