Article
Ecology
David E. Cade, Shirel R. Kahane-Rapport, William T. Gough, K. C. Bierlich, Jacob M. J. Linsky, John Calambokidis, David W. Johnston, Jeremy A. Goldbogen, Ari S. Friedlaender
Summary: Bulk filter feeding has allowed for gigantism in evolutionary history. The largest rorqual whales use lunge feeding, which becomes more efficient with body size. However, smaller rorquals exhibit lower daytime feeding rates compared to larger species, suggesting a minimum size for efficient filter feeding.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Angus Fleetwood Henderson, Mark Andrew Hindell, Simon Wotherspoon, Martin Biuw, Mary-Anne Lea, Nat Kelly, Andrew Damon Lowther
Summary: The recovery of baleen whales in the Southern Ocean is crucial for understanding their role in the ecosystem. However, estimating their abundance using distance sampling is challenging in the remote Southern Ocean. This study explores the potential use of tourist vessel-based sampling for estimating baleen whale abundance and shows that it is a viable and cost-effective method.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ryan R. Reisinger, Philip N. Trathan, Christopher M. Johnson, Trevor W. Joyce, John W. Durban, Robert L. Pitman, Ari S. Friedlaender
Summary: Antarctic krill are essential food for many consumers in Antarctica, but they are also targeted by commercial fisheries. Potential competition between krill fisheries and consumers has raised concerns, highlighting the need for more precise management to protect krill and krill-dependent consumers.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biology
Anaelle Durfort, Gael Mariani, Vivitskaia Tulloch, Matthew S. S. Savoca, Marc Troussellier, David Mouillot
Summary: This study examines the role of baleen whales in the biological carbon pump in the southern hemisphere. It shows that the abundance of whale populations and carbon sequestration have been significantly impacted by commercial whaling, but with projected restoration of whale populations and climate change, carbon sequestration can increase in the future.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
N. S. J. Lysiak, S. H. Ferguson, C. A. Hornby, M. P. Heide-Jorgensen, C. J. D. Matthews
Summary: Serial measurements of hormone concentrations along baleen plates were conducted to reconstruct reproductive histories of bowhead whales. The study assessed gestation and calving interval in 10 females from the eastern Canada-west Greenland population using progesterone, oestradiol, corticosterone, and nitrogen stable isotope ratios. The findings revealed variations in progesterone concentrations among immature and mature females, indicating the presence of pregnancies and suggesting potential modification of gestation definition.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Carley L. Lowe, Renee Jordan-Ward, Kathleen E. Hunt, Matthew C. Rogers, Alexander J. Werth, Chris Gabriele, Janet Neilson, Frank A. von Hippel, C. Loren Buck
Summary: Quantifying contaminant concentrations in baleen whales is challenging due to their large migrations and infrequent resightings. This study used baleen to retrospectively analyze mercury concentrations in three humpback whales over a three-year period, revealing individual variations and the potential influence of diet on mercury levels. Age did not affect mercury concentrations in baleen, but a spike was observed during the first half of lactation in the female whale. Further studies should explore variations in contaminant concentrations across sexes, populations, and species, as well as their relationship with life history parameters and geography.
Article
Biology
William T. Gough, Hayden J. Smith, Matthew S. Savoca, Max F. Czapanskiy, Frank E. Fish, Jean Potvin, K. C. Bierlich, David E. Cade, Jacopo Di Clemente, John Kennedy, Paolo Segre, Andrew Stanworth, Caroline Weir, Jeremy A. Goldbogen
Summary: The study reveals that mass-specific thrust in baleen whales increases with swimming speed and body size, while Froude efficiency decreases with body size but increases with swimming speed. This differs from smaller animals where Froude efficiency typically increases with body size. The dynamics of oscillatory swimming in baleen whales exhibit high Froude efficiency despite higher drag compared to a simple gliding model.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Acoustics
Jeppe Have Rasmussen, Ana Sirovic
Summary: Passive acoustic monitoring is crucial for baleen whale research, but manual detection of whale calls in large data sets is labor-intensive. Automated detectors have been developed for many whale species, but detecting calls with high variability, such as fin whale 40 Hz calls and blue whale D calls, remains a challenge. By using a modular approach with convolutional neural networks, researchers have created automated detectors for these challenging call types with precision and recall rates ranging from 54% to 64%.
JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Emmanuelle C. Leroy, Jean-Yves Royer, Abigail Alling, Ben Maslen, Tracey L. Rogers
Summary: Commercial whaling in the twentieth century pushed blue whales to the edge of extinction, with slow recovery rate in the Southern Hemisphere, where they remain endangered. Despite being the largest animals on Earth, studying blue whales in the Southern Hemisphere is challenging, leading to limited knowledge on their population structure, distribution, and migration. The discovery of the DGD-Chagos song suggests the existence of a previously unknown distinct pygmy blue whale population.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Alexandre P. Plourde, Mladen R. Nedimovic
Summary: The Lower St. Lawrence Seaway is an important habitat for endangered baleen whale species in eastern Canada. With the aim of reducing threats from human activity, it is crucial to understand their habitat use. The existing hydrophone network is limited for remote whale observation, but onshore seismometers can record fin and blue whale calls. By applying a simple method, a catalog of fin and blue whale detections at 14 onshore seismometers across the LSLS was built. However, a denser deployment of onshore and/or offshore seismometers is needed for accurate whale tracking.
REMOTE SENSING IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Maria Snell, Andrew Baillie, Simon Berrow, Robert Deaville, Rod Penrose, Matthew Perkins, Ruth Williams, Mark P. Simmonds
Summary: Climate change is causing shifts in baleen whale distribution, with significant increases in strandings in the more northern regions of the British Isles.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Nicole Pegg, Irene T. Roca, Danielle Cholewiak, Genevieve E. Davis, Sofie M. Van Parijs
Summary: Soundscape analyses offer an integrative approach to studying the presence and complexity of sounds in long-term acoustic data sets, with a focus on baleen whales. A novel method combining AM with supervised machine learning was developed to understand the presence and species richness of baleen whales in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The model showed high accuracy in detecting species absence and presence, providing a promising complement to current methodologies for studying marine mammals.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Biology
Paolo S. Segre, William T. Gough, Edward A. Roualdes, David E. Cade, Max F. Czapanskiy, James Fahlbusch, Shirel R. Kahane-Rapport, William K. Oestreich, Lars Bejder, K. C. Bierlich, Julia A. Burrows, John Calambokidis, Ellen M. Chenoweth, Jacopo di Clemente, John W. Durban, Holly Fearnbach, Frank E. Fish, Ari S. Friedlaender, Peter Hegelund, David W. Johnston, Douglas P. Nowacek, Machiel G. Oudejans, Gwenith S. Penry, Jean Potvin, Malene Simon, Andrew Stanworth, Janice M. Straley, Andrew Szabo, Simone K. A. Videsen, Fleur Visser, Caroline R. Weir, David N. Wiley, Jeremy A. Goldbogen
Summary: This study quantified the maneuvering performance of seven species of free-swimming baleen whale using bio-logging data, aerial photogrammetry, and a high-throughput approach. The results showed that larger whales have lower absolute maneuvering performance compared to smaller species, but exhibit positive allometry of maneuvering performance relative to their body size. Larger whales compensate for their decreased agility by using turns that they can perform more effectively.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Dafne Eerkes-Medrano, David C. Aldridge, Arnoldous S. Blix
Summary: Isotopic analyses of baleen in Mysticeti have been used to study their feeding and movement patterns, revealing differences in diet between whales caught at different locations and suggesting that whales primarily prey on fish, switching to zooplankton during the spring bloom. However, the data did not confirm whether the whales migrate over long distances.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Environmental Studies
Eliza Oldach, Helen Killeen, Priya Shukla, Ellie Brauer, Nicholas Carter, Jennifer Fields, Alexandra Thomsen, Cassidy Cooper, Leah Mellinger, Kaiwen Wang, Carl Hendrickson, Anna Neumann, Pernille Sporon Boving, Nann Fangue
Summary: This article summarizes the research on mortality drivers for nine whale species in the California Current ecosystem, and discusses the existing policies addressing these drivers. There are five main threats contributing to whale mortality in the ecosystem that are currently targeted through relevant policies, while three threats remain largely unaddressed.
Article
Biology
Paolo S. Segre, William T. Gough, Edward A. Roualdes, David E. Cade, Max F. Czapanskiy, James Fahlbusch, Shirel R. Kahane-Rapport, William K. Oestreich, Lars Bejder, K. C. Bierlich, Julia A. Burrows, John Calambokidis, Ellen M. Chenoweth, Jacopo di Clemente, John W. Durban, Holly Fearnbach, Frank E. Fish, Ari S. Friedlaender, Peter Hegelund, David W. Johnston, Douglas P. Nowacek, Machiel G. Oudejans, Gwenith S. Penry, Jean Potvin, Malene Simon, Andrew Stanworth, Janice M. Straley, Andrew Szabo, Simone K. A. Videsen, Fleur Visser, Caroline R. Weir, David N. Wiley, Jeremy A. Goldbogen
Summary: This study quantified the maneuvering performance of seven species of free-swimming baleen whale using bio-logging data, aerial photogrammetry, and a high-throughput approach. The results showed that larger whales have lower absolute maneuvering performance compared to smaller species, but exhibit positive allometry of maneuvering performance relative to their body size. Larger whales compensate for their decreased agility by using turns that they can perform more effectively.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Logan J. Pallin, Nick M. Kellar, Debbie Steel, Natalia Botero-Acosta, C. Scott Baker, Jack A. Conroy, Daniel P. Costa, Chris M. Johnson, David W. Johnston, Ross C. Nichols, Doug P. Nowacek, Andrew J. Read, Oksana Savenko, Oscar M. Schofield, Sharon E. Stammerjohn, Deborah K. Steinberg, Ari S. Friedlaender
Summary: By studying the relationship between humpback whale pregnancy rates and krill availability as well as ice cover fluctuations, it was found that the limitation of krill resources has an impact on whale reproductive rates, contrary to the previous krill surplus hypothesis. This suggests that the population growth of humpback whales in the Antarctic may be limited by prey availability.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Justin T. Ridge, Alexandra E. DiGiacomo, Antonio B. Rodriguez, Joshua D. Himmelstein, David W. Johnston
Summary: Physical structures generated by ecosystem engineers have significant impacts on ecosystems and surrounding landscapes. The Eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica forms intertidal reefs, which provide important nursery and foraging habitats for marine life and stabilize shorelines. Various tools, including remote sensing methods, are available to measure the three-dimensional properties of intertidal habitats. In this study, we used terrestrial laser scanning and drone imagery to measure oyster reef structures and found that drone surveys produced accurate and consistent results, making them highly useful for oyster conservation and restoration.
REMOTE SENSING IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Editorial Material
Ecology
Conor Ryan, Maya Santangelo, Brent Stephenson, Trevor A. Branch, Earle A. Wilson, Matthew S. Savoca
Review
Anatomy & Morphology
Alexander J. Werth, A. W. Crompton
Summary: Cetacean tongues have unique structures and functions compared to typical mammalian tongues. They are dynamic and innovative tools with the world's largest muscular structures. These changes reflect the adaptation of cetaceans to a fully aquatic environment, where their tongues play important roles in food ingestion, transport, securing/positioning, and swallowing.
JOURNAL OF ANATOMY
(2023)
Article
Anatomy & Morphology
Megan L. Vandenberg, Karly E. Cohen, Robert D. Rubin, Jeremy A. Goldbogen, Adam P. Summers, E. W. Misty Paig-Tran, Shirel R. Kahane-Rapport
Summary: Recent studies have shown that balaenids likely feed using a self-cleaning, cross-flow filtration mechanism, while how filtering is achieved in rorquals remains unclear. This study used a multimodal approach to investigate baleen anatomy in five species of rorqual whales and found that larger whales exhibited hypoallometry relative to body length. The study also proposed a model for estimating the effective pore size, which may reflect changes in resistance through the filter that affect fluid flow rather than prey size.
JOURNAL OF MORPHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
David E. Cade, Shirel R. Kahane-Rapport, William T. Gough, K. C. Bierlich, Jacob M. J. Linsky, John Calambokidis, David W. Johnston, Jeremy A. Goldbogen, Ari S. Friedlaender
Summary: Bulk filter feeding has allowed for gigantism in evolutionary history. The largest rorqual whales use lunge feeding, which becomes more efficient with body size. However, smaller rorquals exhibit lower daytime feeding rates compared to larger species, suggesting a minimum size for efficient filter feeding.
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Katherine M. Green, Mala K. Virdee, Hannah C. Cubaynes, Angelica I. Aviles-Rivero, Peter T. Fretwell, Patrick C. Gray, David W. Johnston, Carola-Bibiane Schonlieb, Leigh G. Torres, Jennifer A. Jackson
Summary: The combination of VHR satellite imagery and deep learning improves efficiency and spatial coverage of global whale population surveys. Regular and accurate surveys are important for conservation efforts due to recovering whale species and anthropogenic threats. In this study, a state-of-the-art object detection model (YOLOv5) was trained to detect whales in VHR satellite images, achieving high precision and recall rates across different experiments. The results suggest the prioritization of expanding representative satellite datasets for automated whale detection in population surveys.
REMOTE SENSING IN ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Gregory D. Larsen, David W. Johnston
Summary: The application of drone technology in pinniped research provides four opportunities for wildlife surveillance: repeat and on-demand surveillance, high-resolution coverage at large extents, morphometric photogrammetry, and computer vision and deep learning applications. These technologies have the potential to reshape the field of pinniped research.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Heather Welch, Matthew S. Savoca, Stephanie Brodie, Michael G. Jacox, Barbara A. Muhling, Thomas A. Clay, Megan A. Cimino, Scott R. Benson, Barbara A. Block, Melinda G. Conners, Daniel P. Costa, Fredrick D. Jordan, Andrew W. Leising, Chloe S. Mikles, Daniel M. Palacios, Scott A. Shaffer, Lesley H. Thorne, Jordan T. Watson, Rachel R. Holser, Lynn Dewitt, Steven J. Bograd, Elliott L. Hazen
Summary: Marine heatwaves have significant impacts on the environment, biology, and socio-economy, making them a major challenge for management in the 21st century. However, the variability of heatwaves and their effects on marine species remain poorly understood, hindering proactive management. This study models the effects of four recent heatwaves in the Northeastern Pacific on the distributions of 14 top predator species, highlighting the need for novel management solutions to respond to extreme climate events.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Biology
K. C. Bierlich, A. Kane, L. Hildebrand, C. N. Bird, A. Fernandez Ajo, J. D. Stewart, J. Hewitt, I. Hildebrand, J. Sumich, L. G. Torres
Summary: Describing individual morphology and growth is crucial for understanding ecological niches and population health. This study compares the morphological differences and growth curves of gray whales in the Eastern North Pacific (ENP) and the Pacific Coast Feeding Group (PCFG). The findings reveal that PCFG whales have smaller asymptotic lengths, as well as smaller skulls and flukes compared to ENP whales, indicating morphological adaptation to a distinct foraging niche.
Article
Biology
William T. Gough, David E. Cade, Max F. Czapanskiy, Jean Potvin, Frank E. Fish, Shirel R. Kahane-Rapport, Matthew S. Savoca, K. C. Bierlich, David W. Johnston, Ari S. Friedlaender, Andy Szabo, Lars Bejder, Jeremy A. Goldbogen
Summary: This study investigates the impact of body size on lunge filter feeding behavior in whales. The results show that, regardless of body size, animals exhibit a skewed gradient between powered and unpowered engulfment. The study also found that larger whales capture more prey and energy at a lower cost.
INTEGRATIVE ORGANISMAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Paolo S. Segre, Jacopo di Clemente, Shirel R. Kahane-Rapport, William T. Gough, Michael A. Meyer, Amanda T. Lombard, Jeremy A. Goldbogen, Gwenith S. Penry
Summary: Recent changes in the South African marine ecosystem and the introduction of an experimental octopus fishery have led to a high rate of fatal whale entanglements. By studying Bryde's whales' feeding behavior, researchers identified that their high-speed chases near the seafloor make them susceptible to entanglement. This finding helped implement changes to octopus fishing gear and reduce the number of entanglements significantly.
CONSERVATION SCIENCE AND PRACTICE
(2022)