Seasonal movements of killer whales between Iceland and Scotland

Understanding the movements and distribution of killer whales Orcinus orca is important for evaluating the threats they face, as well as their impact as top predators in different ecosystems. Killer whales in the Northeast Atlantic are thought to follow specific prey stocks but their seasonal moveme...

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Autores principales:	FIP Samarra, AD Foote
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Inter-Research 2015
Materias:	Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Microbiology QR1-502
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/93e0ff2d72e24ab683eb27dfb115979b
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:93e0ff2d72e24ab683eb27dfb115979b
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:93e0ff2d72e24ab683eb27dfb115979b2021-11-18T09:17:26ZSeasonal movements of killer whales between Iceland and Scotland1864-77821864-779010.3354/ab00637https://doaj.org/article/93e0ff2d72e24ab683eb27dfb115979b2015-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.int-res.com/abstracts/ab/v24/n1/p75-79/https://doaj.org/toc/1864-7782https://doaj.org/toc/1864-7790Understanding the movements and distribution of killer whales Orcinus orca is important for evaluating the threats they face, as well as their impact as top predators in different ecosystems. Killer whales in the Northeast Atlantic are thought to follow specific prey stocks but their seasonal movements are still poorly understood. Here, we used recent killer whale photographic data collected in Iceland and Scotland to show that some individual whales repeatedly move between these locations. Unlike other killer whales that appear to follow the movements of particular herring stocks, the whales we studied appear to feed on the Icelandic summer-spawning herring stock in winter, and then move outside the summer distribution range of this herring stock. Based on these new photographic recaptures and previously published movements of killer whales between Iceland and Scotland, we infer that movements between both locations have been occurring for several years at least. Although based on only 7 identified individuals, our results provide the first evidence of regular seasonal movements between Iceland and Scotland, and suggest individual or group variability in the movement patterns of killer whales that prey on herring. Understanding killer whale movements will aid our understanding of prey specialization, the whales’ potential impacts on local prey resources, and their susceptibility to fluctuations in the availability of different prey species.FIP SamarraAD FooteInter-ResearcharticleBiology (General)QH301-705.5MicrobiologyQR1-502ENAquatic Biology, Vol 24, Iss 1, Pp 75-79 (2015)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Microbiology QR1-502
spellingShingle	Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Microbiology QR1-502 FIP Samarra AD Foote Seasonal movements of killer whales between Iceland and Scotland
description	Understanding the movements and distribution of killer whales Orcinus orca is important for evaluating the threats they face, as well as their impact as top predators in different ecosystems. Killer whales in the Northeast Atlantic are thought to follow specific prey stocks but their seasonal movements are still poorly understood. Here, we used recent killer whale photographic data collected in Iceland and Scotland to show that some individual whales repeatedly move between these locations. Unlike other killer whales that appear to follow the movements of particular herring stocks, the whales we studied appear to feed on the Icelandic summer-spawning herring stock in winter, and then move outside the summer distribution range of this herring stock. Based on these new photographic recaptures and previously published movements of killer whales between Iceland and Scotland, we infer that movements between both locations have been occurring for several years at least. Although based on only 7 identified individuals, our results provide the first evidence of regular seasonal movements between Iceland and Scotland, and suggest individual or group variability in the movement patterns of killer whales that prey on herring. Understanding killer whale movements will aid our understanding of prey specialization, the whales’ potential impacts on local prey resources, and their susceptibility to fluctuations in the availability of different prey species.
format	article
author	FIP Samarra AD Foote
author_facet	FIP Samarra AD Foote
author_sort	FIP Samarra
title	Seasonal movements of killer whales between Iceland and Scotland
title_short	Seasonal movements of killer whales between Iceland and Scotland
title_full	Seasonal movements of killer whales between Iceland and Scotland
title_fullStr	Seasonal movements of killer whales between Iceland and Scotland
title_full_unstemmed	Seasonal movements of killer whales between Iceland and Scotland
title_sort	seasonal movements of killer whales between iceland and scotland
publisher	Inter-Research
publishDate	2015
url	https://doaj.org/article/93e0ff2d72e24ab683eb27dfb115979b
work_keys_str_mv	AT fipsamarra seasonalmovementsofkillerwhalesbetweenicelandandscotland AT adfoote seasonalmovementsofkillerwhalesbetweenicelandandscotland
_version_	1718420914698190848

Seasonal movements of killer whales between Iceland and Scotland

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