Spatio-temporal occurrence patterns of cetaceans near Ross I

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TitleSpatio-temporal occurrence patterns of cetaceans near Ross Island, Antarctica, 2002--2015: implications for food web dynamicscAbstractThe Ross Sea pelagic food web is closely coupled, with the foraging among abundant upper level species affecting the foraging of one another. To investigate the roles cetaceans may have in such interspecific interactions in this system, we studied within-season and interannual occurrence patterns of Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) and type-B and type-C killer whales (Orcinus orca) within the southwestern Ross Sea, 2002--2015. Time series analysis summarized daily observations made from 3 shore localities: Capes Crozier, Bird, and Royds distributed around the Â 120 km periphery of Ross Island. In early mid-November, both species arrived at Crozier, the easternmost point and westward edge of the Ross Sea Polynya marginal ice zone. Subsequently, coinciding with decreased sea ice cover and numbers off Crozier, both species appeared off Bird, then Royds, 80 and 117 km to the west/southwest, respectively. Arrival in either area coincided with SIC decreasing to <80 percent, consistent with observations elsewhere. Within-season off Crozier, both species occurred in cycles of multi-day presence followed by absence, perhaps reflecting the spatio-temporal patchiness of prey indicated also by penguin foraging patterns. Within-season off Royds, especially for killer whales, occurrence was even more episodic; type-Bs arrived before type-Cs, and results support previously described resident and transient portions of the type-C population. Combined with results showing that whale arrival leads to food stress among penguins, we suggest that relatively few cetaceans can alter food availability to alter the foraging behavior of other mesopredators, despite primary productivity being the richest in the Southern Ocean. Copyright 2017 Springer-Verlag Berlin HeidelbergAcknowledgementsIndispensable were the efforts of persons who aided in data collection: K. Barton, L. Blight, J. Blum, M. Coleman, M. Elrod, P. Dilks, K. Drew, K. Dugger, I. Gaffney, D. GrÃ©millet, C. Gjerdrum, M. Hester, D. Hyrenbach, S. Jenouvrier, D. Jongsomjit, P. Kappes, B. Karl, K. Lindquist, V. Marsaudon, A. Matthews, C. McCreedy, R. Orben, V. Patil, (A) Pollard, E. Porzig, V. Ruoppolo, (B) Saenz, A. Schmidt, L. Sheffield, L. Smith, N. Strycker, I. Sutherland, A. Varsani, A. Whitehead, P. Wilson. Logistic support was provided by the U.S. Antarctic Program and Antarctica New Zealand. Financial support was provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation through grants OPP 9526865, 9814882, and 0125608, and ANT 0440643, 0944411 and 0944694; and New Zealand's Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (C09527, C09X0510, C01X1226), NZ Ministry of Science and Innovation (C01X1001) and Landcare Research NZ grants. Helpful comments on the ms were provided by R.L. Pitman, L.T. Ballance, and anonymous reviewers. Point Blue contribution #2119.

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1st AuthorAinley, D.AuthorAinley, D.Lindke, K.Ballard, G.Lyver, P.Jennings, S.Toniolo, V.Pennycook, J.Massaro, M.Santora, J.Year2017JournalPolar BiologyPages1/15/17DOI10.1007/s00300-017-2100-9URLhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/recor.....4b97b987ce0ef4de4fbe0de42Keywordsrank5Author KeywordsFood web interactionsMesoscale alteration of food availabilityPenguinsRoss SeaWhales

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TypeArticleCitationAinley, D., Lindke, K., Ballard, G., Lyver, P., Jennings, S., Toniolo, V., Pennycook, J., Massaro, M. and Santora, J. (2017). Spatio-temporal occurrence patterns of cetaceans near Ross Island, Antarctica, 2002--2015: implications for food web dynamics. Polar Biology, 40(9): 1761–1775IdentifierAinley2017aRelevancerank5Antarctica NZ supported?YesNZARI?Yes