Ocean warming threatens southern right whale population recovery
Macarena Agrelo, Fábio G. Daura‐Jorge, Victoria J. Rowntree, Mariano Sironi, Philip S. Hammond, Simon N. Ingram, Carina F. Marón, Florencia O. Vilches, Jon Seger, Roger Payne, Paulo C. Simões‐Lopes
Abstract
) photo-identified at Península Valdés, Argentina, we found a marked increase in whale mortality rates following El Niño events. By modeling how the population responds to changes in the frequency and intensity of El Niño events, we found that such events are likely to impede SRW population recovery and could even cause population decline. Such outcomes have the potential to disrupt food-web interactions in the SO, weakening that ecosystem’s contribution to the mitigation of climate change at a global scale.
Topics & Concepts
Right whaleKrillEcosystemPopulationClimate changeMarine ecosystemAntarctic krillWhaleEuphausiaceaGlobal warmingEuphausiaOceanographyGeographyEcologyFisheryBiologyGeologyDemographySociologyMarine animal studies overviewArctic and Antarctic ice dynamicsMarine and fisheries research