Dear MARMAM community,

On behalf of my coauthors, I am excited to share our recent publication in Ecology and Evolution:

Barlow, D. R., Klinck, H., Ponirakis, D., Branch, T. A., & Torres, L. G. (2023). Environmental conditions and marine heatwaves influence blue whale foraging and reproductive effort. Ecology and Evolution, 13, e9770. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9770

Abstract: Animal behavior is motivated by the fundamental need to feed and reproduce, and these behaviors can be inferred from spatiotemporal variations in biological signals such as vocalizations. Yet, linking foraging and reproductive effort to environmental drivers can be challenging for wide-ranging predator species. Blue whales are acoustically active marine predators that produce two distinct vocalizations: song and D calls. We examined environmental correlates of these vocalizations using continuous recordings from five hydrophones in the South Taranaki Bight region of Aotearoa New Zealand to investigate call behavior relative to ocean conditions and infer life history patterns. D calls were strongly correlated with oceanographic drivers of upwelling in spring and summer, indicating associations with foraging effort. In contrast, song displayed a highly seasonal pattern with peak intensity in fall, which aligned with the timing of conception inferred from whaling records. Finally, during a marine heatwave, reduced foraging (inferred from D calls) was followed by lower reproductive effort (inferred from song intensity).

The full article is open access, and available online: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.9770

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or to request a PDF copy.

Cheers,

Dawn

Dawn Barlow, PhD (she/her)

Postdoctoral Scholar

Marine Mammal Institute | Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences

Oregon State University | Hatfield Marine Science Center

Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Lab

dawn.barlow@oregonstate.edu