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Mercury and stable isotope cycles in baleen plates are consistent with year-round feeding in two bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) populations

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Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that the analysis of biogeochemical tracers along baleen can provide seasonal, annual, and longer term insights into whale movements, habitat use, diet, and ecosystem processes. We measured the mercury (Hg) concentration and stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope compositions along baleen plates of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) harvested between 1988 and 1996 from the Bering–Chukchi–Beaufort (BCB) and the Eastern Canada–West Greenland (EC–WG) populations. These measurements were compared among individuals and between populations to assess seasonal cycling and to determine if bowhead whales forage year-round rather than fasting in winter. Individuals from the BCB population had synchronous cycles with higher Hg concentrations and lower δ13C values in summer and lower Hg concentrations and higher δ13C values in winter. EC–WG individuals also had synchronized periodic variations with peak values in isotopic ratios during summer. These results reflect an annual cycle of seasonal migration between distinct food webs in both populations. Spring and fall feeding activity was indicated in the intra-annual Hg and δ13C cycles along the baleen plates of all whales in our study. These shorter periods, spanning about half the annual growth, have not been previously described in the baleen of these populations, and are consistent with separate foraging areas along the migration routes. The results of this study provide further support for year-round foraging in a species previously thought to fast during winter. Future monitoring of seasonal foraging patterns in baleen would help to determine whether bowhead whales alter their foraging patterns in response to shifts in zooplankton community availability, composition, and phenology.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, U.S. Minerals Management Service and the Water Research Center, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. We thank the personnel of the Department of Wildlife Management, North Slope Borough, for obtaining the samples for this study and the cooperation of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission. We are also grateful to DFO (L. Dueck and B. Dunn) and local hunters in Nunavut, Canada for the collection of baleen samples and to Luc Beaudin for technical assistance. We are deeply indebted to the late Dr. Don Schell who provided access to baleen collections and whose careful detective work provided us with the inspiration that we might be able to recover Hg records from these same plates that had been so instrumental in revising our understanding of bowhead biogeography.

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  1. Centre for Earth and Observation Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada

    Corinne Pomerleau, Gary A. Stern & Robie W. Macdonald

  2. Freshwater Institute, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Winnipeg, Canada

    Cory J. D. Matthews & Steven H. Ferguson

  3. Centre Eau Terre Environnement, Institut National de Recherche Scientifique, Québec, Canada

    Charles Gobeil

  4. Institute of Ocean Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Sidney, Canada

    Robie W. Macdonald

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  1. Corinne Pomerleau
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Correspondence to Corinne Pomerleau.

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Whales were harvested by Inuit beneficiaries as part of their land claims agreements whereby no animal care provisions are required. The authors have no commercial affiliations that would influence study design, data collection and analysis, decisions related to publishing, or in preparation of the manuscript. We did not receive funding from a commercial source.

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Pomerleau, C., Matthews, C.J.D., Gobeil, C. et al. Mercury and stable isotope cycles in baleen plates are consistent with year-round feeding in two bowhead whale (Balaena mysticetus) populations. Polar Biol 41, 1881–1893 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-018-2329-y

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