Knowledge of species trophic position (TP) is an essential component of ecosystem management. Determining TP from stable nitrogen isotopes (δ¹⁵N) in predators requires understanding how these tracers vary across environments and how they relate to predator isotope composition. We used two seal species as a model for determining TP across large spatial scales in the Arctic. δ¹⁵N ...

Migration patterns are fundamentally linked to the spatiotemporal distributions of prey. How migrating animals can respond to changes in their prey’s distribution and abundance remains largely unclear. During the last decade, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) used specific winter foraging sites in fjords of northern Norway, outside of their main summer foraging season, to feed on herring ...

Understanding how individual animals modulate their behaviour and movement patterns in response to environmental variability plays a central role in behavioural ecology. Marine mammal tracking studies typically use physical environmental characteristics that vary, and/or proxies of prey distribution, to explain predator movements. Studies linking predator movements and the actual distributions ...

Identifying environmental characteristics that define the ecological niche of a species is essential to understanding how changes in physical conditions might affect its distribution and other aspects of its ecology. The present study used satellite relay data loggers (SRDLs) to study habitat use by Northeast Atlantic hooded seals (N = 20; 9 adult females, 3 adult males, and 8 juveniles). Three ...

<p><i>Background - </i>Satellite-linked animal-borne tags enable the study of free-ranging marine mammals. These tags can only transmit data while their antenna is above the surface for a sufficient amount of time. Thus, the position of the tag on the animal’s body will likely influence the quality and the quantity of location estimates. We explored the effects of tag placement and tag performance ...

Fine-scale knowledge of spatiotemporal dynamics in cetacean distribution and abundance throughout the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is sparse yet essential for effective ecosystem-based management (EBM). Cruise vessels were used as platforms of opportunity to collect data on the distribution and abundance of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) during the austral summer of 2019/2020 in a ...

Introduction: The Scotia Sea and Antarctic Peninsula are warming rapidly and changes in species distribution are expected. In predicting habitat shifts and considering appropriate management strategies for marine predators, a community-level understanding of how these predators are distributed is desirable. Acquiring such data, particularly in remote areas, is often problematic given the cost ...

In this study, we assess prey consumption by the marine mammal community in the northeast Atlantic [including 21 taxa, across three regions: (I) the Icelandic shelf, Denmark Strait, and Iceland Sea (ICE); (II) the Greenland and Norwegian Seas (GN); and (III) the Barents Sea (BS)], and compare mammal requirements with removals by fisheries. To determine prey needs, estimates of energetic requirements ...

Environmental change and increasing levels of human activity are threats to marine mam- mals in the Arctic. Identifying marine mammal hot - spots and areas of high species richness are essential to help guide management and conservation efforts. Herein, space use based on biotelemetric tracking devices deployed on 13 species (ringed seal <i>Pusa hispida</i>, bearded seal <i>Erignathus ...

The Arctic is warming rapidly, with concomitant sea ice losses and ecosystem changes. The animals most vulnerable to Arctic food web changes are long-lived and slow-growing such as marine mammals, which may not be able to adapt rapidly enough to respond to changes in their resource bases. To determine the current extent and sources of these resource bases, we examined isotopic and trophic niches ...