Title
Using stable isotopes to investigate foraging variation and habitat use of sperm whales from northern Peru
Date Issued
14 September 2017
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Peru
Publisher(s)
Inter-Research
Abstract
Female sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus are top predators in mesopelagic ecosystems, integrating chemical information about ecosystems through their diet. Proxies for diet and habitat use may be useful to learn about how sperm whales' foraging behavior and environment change through time. We measured stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) from individual growth layer groups from the teeth of 10 female sperm whales, to track changes in diet and habitat use from ca. 1926 to 1960. We found that bulk δ13C and δ15N records fell into 3 temporal patterns, which may indicate different ontogenetic changes in diet, habitat, or both. Average bulk δ13C and δ15N values for each tooth were positively correlated, and individual whales generally separated according to temporal patterns. To determine the underlying driver of the bulk relationship, we measured δ13C and δ15N values from individual amino acids (AAs) in a subset of samples. AA isotope results indicated that the bulk isotopic trend was due to baseline differences. Specifically, whales from each identified pattern likely used different feeding regions, but had similar trophic positions. This conclusion is supported by the relationships between bulk and compound-specific AA isotope values for both nitrogen and carbon. We suggest that these female sperm whales inhabiting northern Peruvian waters had 3 different lifelong foraging strategies, having the same trophic position but feeding overall in different regions. These results provide novel insights into social bonds among female sperm whales, since whales with similar foraging patterns likely shared the same habitat and diet over their lifetime, whereas whales with different foraging strategies had separate trophic niches.
Start page
201
End page
212
Volume
579
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Biología marina, Biología de agua dulce, Limnología
Biología
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85029493763
Source
Marine Ecology Progress Series
ISSN of the container
01718630
Sponsor(s)
Acknowledgements. Dr. Robert Clarke and collaborators collected teeth used in this study. Access to these teeth was provided to R.I.R.C. by Dr. Clarke and collaborators, and the Peruvian government. Thank you to Dyke Andreasen, Chih-Ting Hsieh, and Colin Carney from the UCSC Stable Isotope Lab for their assistance with bulk stable isotope analysis and to Elizabeth Gier for assistance with compound-specific isotope analysis. This study was funded by the National Science Foundation (OCE-1155728 to P.K.L., M.D.M., and R.I.R.C.). The Meyer’s Oceanographic Trust and Friends of the Long Marine Lab (to J.R.Z.M.) also provided monetary support.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus