[MARMAM] Recent paper on new feeding ground for Fin Whale in the Mediterranean

[Ceto News]

Hello everyone,

 
the following paper was recently published:
 
Exploring thermal and trophic
preference of Balaenoptera physalus in the central Tyrrhenian Sea: a new summer
feeding ground?.Arcangeli, A., Orasi, A., Carcassi, S. P., & Crosti, R. (2013).Marine Biology(DOI) 10.1007/s00227-013-2348-8
 
Abstract
In the 1990s, the central Tyrrhenian Sea was regarded as a transit region for fin whales’ (Balaenoptera physalus) summer migration. In recent years, a much higher presence of fin whales during the entire summer season was reported in the region. The hypothesis that the central Tyrrhenian Sea may have become a summer feeding ground was tested gathering data from summer presence of whales in the region (40–42.5°N; 9–13°E) and investigating whether it might be related to sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-a concentration, considered as proxies of food availability. Results showed that whales always aggregate in the more productive portions of the investigated area; the general productivity of the area, however, did not directly influence the frequency of occurrence of whales. We concluded that the complex dynamics of the balance between feeding activities and avoiding pressures may have led fin whales to use the region as an opportunistic
 feeding ground.
 

The final publication is available at link.springer.com.
It is fully accessible to all users at libraries and institutions that have
purchased a SpringerLink license at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00227-013-2348-8or you can ask to
the correspondence author: antonella.arcangeli at isprambiente.it
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/marmam/attachments/20131110/eabab915/attachment.html>