Food chain without giants: modelling the trophic impact of bowhead whaling on little auk populations in the Atlantic Arctic.
Proc Biol Sci
; 291(2029): 20241183, 2024 Aug.
Article
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| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-39163979
ABSTRACT
In the Atlantic Arctic, bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) were nearly exterminated by European whalers between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. The collapse of the East Greenland-Svalbard-Barents Sea population, from an estimated 50 000 to a few hundred individuals, drastically reduced predation on mesozooplankton. Here, we tested the hypothesis that this event strongly favoured the demography of the little auk (Alle alle), a zooplanktivorous feeder competitor of bowhead whales and the most abundant seabird in the Arctic. To estimate the effect of bowhead whaling on little auk abundance, we modelled the trophic niche overlap between the two species using deterministic simulations of mesozooplankton spatial distribution. We estimated that bowhead whaling could have led to a 70% increase in northeast Atlantic Arctic little auk populations, from 2.8 to 4.8 million breeding pairs. While corresponding to a major population increase, this is far less than predicted by previous studies. Our study illustrates how a trophic shift can result from the near extirpation of a marine megafauna species, and the methodological framework we developed opens up new opportunities for marine trophic modelling.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Cadena Alimentaria
Límite:
Animals
País/Región como asunto:
America do norte
/
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Proc Biol Sci
Asunto de la revista:
BIOLOGIA
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Francia