Trophic niche partitioning and diet composition of sympatric fin (Balaenoptera physalus) and humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Gulf of Alaska revealed through stable isotope analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 1319-1339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Briana H. Witteveen ◽  
Kate M. Wynne
2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. E253-E265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga A. Filatova ◽  
Briana H. Witteveen ◽  
Anton A. Goncharov ◽  
Alexei V. Tiunov ◽  
Maria I. Goncharova ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Kelsey Johnson ◽  
Gail Davoren

On the Newfoundland, Canada foraging ground, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae (Borowski, 1781)) are found associated with a dominant forage fish species, capelin (Mallotus villosus (Müller, 1776), that experienced a population collapse in the early 1990s and has not recovered. Our primary goal was to reconstruct dietary proportions of humpback whales on their summer foraging grounds off the northeastern Newfoundland coast during July-August, 2016 and 2017 using a Bayesian stable isotope mixing model (MixSiar). Modelled dietary proportions were similar in both years, with capelin comprising ~90% of the diet. However, both δ13C and δ15N in humpback whale skin differed significantly between years, resulting in minimal dietary niche overlap (9%). Lipid-extracted and nonlipid-extracted skin samples were used to develop a lipid normalization equation: ∆13C = – 3.184 + 1.011(C:N). Overall, findings suggest that capelin is the primary prey type of humpback whales in coastal Newfoundland, despite the continued collapsed state of the capelin population. Findings also reiterate that dietary reconstruction from stable isotope analysis of cetacean skin can be misinterpreted without concurrently sampled isotopic ratios of potential prey types.


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 3611-3621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paride Balzani ◽  
Salvatrice Vizzini ◽  
Giacomo Santini ◽  
Alberto Masoni ◽  
Claudio Ciofi ◽  
...  

2010 ◽  
Vol 416 ◽  
pp. 285-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
HS Young ◽  
DJ McCauley ◽  
R Dirzo ◽  
RB Dunbar ◽  
SA Shaffer

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