Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Ecosystem regime shifts have not affected growth and survivorship of eastern Beaufort Sea belugas

  • Global Change Ecology - Original Paper
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Large-scale ocean-atmosphere physical dynamics can have profound impacts on the structure and organization of marine ecosystems. These changes have been termed “regime shifts”, and five different episodes have been detected in the North Pacific Ocean, with concurrent changes also occurring in the Bering and Beaufort Seas. Belugas from the Eastern Beaufort Sea (EBS) use the Bering Sea during winter and the Beaufort Sea during summer, yet the potential effects of regime shifts on belugas have not been assessed. We investigated whether body size and survivorship of EBS belugas harvested in the Mackenzie River delta region between 1993 and 2003 have been affected by previous purported regime shifts in the North Pacific. Residuals from the relationship between body length and age were calculated and compared among belugas born between 1932 and 1989. Residual body size was not significantly related to birth year for any regime, nor to the age group individuals belonged to during any regime. The percentage deviation in number of belugas born in any given year that survived to be included in the hunt (survivorship) did not show any significant trend within or between regimes. Accounting for lags of 1–5 years did not reveal any evidence of delayed effects. Furthermore, neither population index was significantly related to changes in major climatic variables that precede regime shifts. Our results suggest that EBS beluga body size and survivorship have not been affected by the major regime shifts of the North Pacific and the adjacent Bering and Beaufort Seas. EBS belugas may have been able to modify their diet without compromising their growth and survivorship. Diet and reproductive analyses over large and small time scales can help understand the mechanisms enabling belugas to avoid significant growth and reproductive effects of past regime shifts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Angliss RP, Outlaw RB (2007) Alaska marine mammal stock assessments, 2006. NOAA technical memorandum NMFS-AFSC-168, US Department of Commerce

  • Ardia DR (2005) Super size me: an experimental test of the factors affecting lipid content and the ability of residual body mass to predict lipid stores in nestling European starlings. Funct Ecol 19:414–420

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arendt JD (1997) Adaptive intrinsic growth rates: an integration across taxa. Q Rev Biol 72:149–177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beamish RJ, Neville CEM, Cass AJ (1997) Production of Fraser River sockey salmon (Oncorhyncus nerka) in relation to decadal-scale changes in the climate and ocean. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 54:543–554

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beckerman A, Benton TG, Ranta E, Kaitala V, Lundberg P (2002) Population dynamic consequences of delayed life-history effects. Trends Ecol Evol 17:263–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benson AJ, Trites AW (2002) Ecological effects of regime shifts in the Bering Sea and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Fish Fish 3:95–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Bograd SJ, Mendelssohn R, Schwing FB, Miller AJ (2005) Spatial heterogeneity of sea surface temperature trends in the Gulf of Alaska. Atmos Ocean 43:241–247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyd IL (1999) Foraging and provisioning in Antarctic fur seals: interannual variability in time-energy budgets. Behav Ecol 10:198–208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyd IL, Lockyer C, Marsh HD, Rommel SA (1999) Reproduction in marine mammals. In: Reynolds III JE (ed) Biology of marine mammals. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., pp 218–286

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd IL, Lunn NJ, Rothery P, Croxall JP (1990) Age distribution of breeding female Antarctic fur seals in relation to changes in population growth rate. Can J Zool 68:2209–2213

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brodie PF (1971) A reconsideration of aspects of growth, reproduction, and behavior of the white whale (Delphinapterus leucas), with reference to the Cumberland Sound, Baffin Island, population. J Fish Res Bd Can 28:1309–1318

    Google Scholar 

  • Clementz MT, Koch PL (2001) Differentiating aquatic mammal habitat and foraging ecology with stable isotopes in tooth enamel. Oecologia 129:461–472

    Google Scholar 

  • Collie JS, Richardson K, Steele JH (2004) Regime shifts: can ecological theory illuminate the mechanisms? Prog Oceanogr 60:281–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • COSEWIC (2004) COSEWIC assessment and update status report on the beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, Ottawa. http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/status/status_e.cfm

  • deYoung B, Harris R, Alheit J, Beaugrand G, Mantua N, Shannon L (2004) Detecting regime shifts in the ocean: data considerations. Prog Oceanogr 60:143–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doidge DW (1990) Age–length and length–weight comparisons in the beluga, Delphinapterus leucas. In: Smith TG, St Aubin DJ, Geraci JR (eds) Advances in research on the beluga whale, Delphinapterus leucas. Can Bull Fish Aquatic Sci Ottawa 224:59–68

  • Drobot S (2003) Long-range statistical forecasting of ice severity in the Beaufort–Chukchi Sea. Weather Forecast 18:1161–1176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans K, Hindell M, Thiele D (2003) Body fat and condition in sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus, from southern Australian waters. Comp Biochem Physiol 134:847–862

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson SH, Stirling I, McLoughlin P (2005) Climate change and ringed seal (Phoca hispida) recruitment in western Hudson Bay. Mar Mamm Sci 21:121–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frid A, Dill LM, Thorne RE, Blundell GM (2007) Inferring prey perception of relative danger in large-scale marine systems. Evol Ecol Res 9:1–15

    Google Scholar 

  • García-Berthou E (2001) On the misuse of residuals in ecology: testing regression residuals vs. the analysis of covariance. J Anim Ecol 70:708–711

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • George JC, Zeh J, Suydam R, Clark C (2004) Abundance and population trend (1978-2001) of Western Arctic bowhead whales surveyed near Barrow, Alaska. Mar Mamm Sci 20:755–773

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Georges JY, Guinet C (2000) Maternal care in the Subantarctic fur seals on Amsterdam Island. Ecology 81:295–308

    Google Scholar 

  • Grebmeier JM, Overland JE, Moore SE, Farley EV, Carmack EC, Cooper LW, Frey KE, Helle JH, McLaughlin FA, McNutt SL (2006) A major ecosystem shift in the northern Bering Sea. Science 311:1461–1464

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Green AJ (2001) Mass/length residuals: measures of body condition or generators of spurious results? Ecology 82:1473–1483

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greene CH, Pershing AJ, Kenney RD, Jossi JW (2003) Impact of climate variability on the recovery of endangered North Atlantic right whales. Oceanography 16:98–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanks J, Smith TD (1981) Characterization of population condition. In: Fowler CW (ed) Dynamics of large mammal populations. Wiley, New York, pp 47–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Hare SR, Mantua NJ (2000) Empirical evidence for North Pacific regime shifts in 1977 and 1989. Prog Oceanogr 47:103–145

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harwood LA, Norton P, Day B, Hall PA (2002) The harvest of beluga whales in Canada’s Western Arctic: hunter-based monitoring of the size and composition of the catch. Arctic 55:10–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Heithaus MR, Frid A, Wirsing AJ, Worm B (2008) Predicting ecological consequences of marine top predator declines. Trends Ecol Evol 23:202–210

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hoenig JM, Heisey DM (2001) The abuse of power: the pervasive fallacy of power calculations for data analysis. Am Stat 55:19–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iverson SJ, Field C, Bowen WD, Blanchard W (2004) Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis: a new method of estimating predator diets. Ecol Monogr 74:211–235

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kieseppä IA (1997) Akaike information criterion, curve-fitting, and the philosophical problem of simplicity. Br J Philos Sci 48:21–48

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klevezal GA (1995) Recording structures of mammals: determination of age and reconstruction of life history. Balkema, Rotterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • LaBarbera M (1989) Analyzing body size as a factor in ecology and evolution. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 20:97–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laidre K, Heide-Jørgensen MP (2005) Winter feeding intensity of narwhals (Monodon monoceros). Mar Mamm Sci 21:45–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laidre KL, Stirling I, Lowry LF, Wiig O, Heide-Jørgensen MP, Ferguson SH (2008) Quantifying sensitivity of Arctic marine mammals to climate-induced habitat change. Ecol Appl 18:S97–S125

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leaper R, Cooke J, Trathan P, Reid K, Rowntree V, Payne R (2006) Global climate drives southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) population dynamics. Biol Lett 2:289–292

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lees K, Pitois S, Scott C, Frid C, Mackinson S (2006) Characterizing regime shifts in the marine environment. Fish Fish 7:104–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockyer C (2007) All creatures great and smaller: a study in cetacean life history energetics. J Mar Biol Assoc UK 87:1035–1045

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loseto L, Richard P, Stern GA, Orr J, Ferguson SH (2007) Segregation of Beaufort Sea beluga whales during the open-water season. Can J Zool 84:1743–1751

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loseto LL, Stern GA, Deibel D, Connelly TL, Prokopowicz A, Lean DRS, Fortier L, Ferguson SH (2008) Linking mercury exposure to habitat and feeding behaviour in Beaufort Sea beluga whales. J Mar Syst 74:1012–1024

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovvorn JR, Richman SE, Grebmeier JM, Cooper LW (2003) Diet and body condition of spectacled eiders wintering in pack ice of the Bering Sea. Polar Biol 26:259–267

    Google Scholar 

  • Lunn NJ, Boyd IL (1993) Influence of maternal characteristics and environmental variation on reproduction in Antarctic fur seals. Symp Zool Soc Lond 66:115–129

    Google Scholar 

  • Luque SP, Ferguson SH (2006) Age structure, growth, and mortality of Eastern Beaufort Sea beluga (Delphinapterus leucas): a comparison among Canadian populations. Techical report 2006-1: v + 27p, Canada/Inuvialuit Fisheries Joint Management Committee

  • Luque SP, Higdon JW, Ferguson SH (2007) Dentine deposition rates in beluga (Delphinapterus leucas): an analysis of the evidence. Aquat Mamm 33:241–245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Macdonald RW, Carmack EC, McLaughlin FA (1999) Connections among ice, runoff and atmospheric forcing in the Beaufort Gyre. Geophys Res Lett 26:2223–2226

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mantua N (2004) Methods for detecting regime shifts in large marine ecosystems: a review with approaches applied to North Pacific data. Prog Oceanogr 60:165–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mantua NJ, Hare SR, Zhang Y, Wallace JM, Francis RC (1997) A Pacific interdecadal climate oscillation with impacts on salmon production. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 78:1069–1079

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin AR, Smith TG, Cox OP (1998) Dive form and function in belugas Delphinapterus leucas of the eastern Canadian High Arctic. Polar Biol 20:218–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGowan JA, Bograd SJ, Lynn RJ, Miller AJ (2003) The biological response to the 1977 regime shift in the California Current. Deep Sea Res II 50:2567–2582

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGowan JA, Cayan DR, Dorman LM (1998) Climate-ocean variability and ecosystem response in the Northwest Pacific. Science 281:210–217

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Merrick RL, Loughlin TR, Calkins DG (1987) Decline in abundance of the northern sea lion, Eumetopias jubatus, in Alaska, 1956–86. Fish Bull 85:351–365

    Google Scholar 

  • Metcalfe NB, Monaghan P (2001) Compensation for a bad start: grow now, pay later? Trends Ecol Evol 16:254–260

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Moore SE, Grebmeier JM, Davies JR (2003) Gray whale distribution relative to forage habitat in the northern Bering Sea: current conditions and retrospective summary. Can J Zool 81:734–742

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Corry-Crowe GM, Suydam RS, Rosenberg A, Frost KJ, Dizon AE (1997) Phylogeography, population structure and dispersal patterns of the beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas in the western Nearctic revealed by mitochondrial DNA. Mol Ecol 6:955–970

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ottersen G, Planque B, Belgrano A, Post E, Reid PC, Stenseth NC (2001) Ecological effects of the North Atlantic oscillation. Oecologia 128:1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Owen-Smith N (2005) Incorporating fundamental laws of biology and physics into population ecology: the metaphysiological approach. Oikos 111:611–615

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peters RH, Birks HJB, Connor EF (1983) The ecological implications of body size. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson BJ, Fry B (1987) Stable isotopes in ecosystem studies. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 18:293–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pitcher KW (1990) Major decline in number of harbor seals, Phoca vitulina, on Tugidak Island, Gulf of Alaska. Mar Mamm Sci 6:121–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Development Core Team (2007) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org

  • Richard AR, Heide-Jørgensen MP, Orr JR, Dietz R, Smith TG (2001a) Summer and autumn movements and habitat use by belugas in the Canadian High Arctic and adjacent areas. Arctic 54:207–222

    Google Scholar 

  • Richard AR, Martin AR, Orr JR (2001b) Summer and autumn movements of belugas of the Beaufort Sea stock. Arctic 54:223–236

    Google Scholar 

  • Richard PR, Martin AR, Orr JR (1997) Study of summer and fall movements and dive behaviour of Beaufort Sea belugas, using satellite telemetry: 1992–1995, vol 134. Environmental Studies Research Funds, Calgary

  • Robeck TR, Monfort SL, Calle PP, Dunn JL, Jensen E, Boehm JR, Young S, Clark ST (2005) Reproduction, growth, and development in captive beluga (Delphinapterus leucas). Zoo Biol 24:29–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosen DAS, Trites AW (2000) Pollock and the decline of Steller sea lions: testing the junk-food hypothesis. Can J Zool 78:1243–1250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rugh DJ, Shelden KEW, Mahoney BA (2000) Distribution of belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, in Cook Inlet, Alaska, during June/July 1993–2000. Mar Fish Rev 62:6–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Räsänen K, Kruuk LEB (2007) Maternal effects and evolution at ecological time scales. Funct Ecol 21:408–421

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schell DM (2000) Declining carrying capacity of the Bering Sea: isotopic evidence from whale baleen. Limnol Oceanogr 45:459–462

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sergeant DE, Brodie PF (1969) Body size in white whales, Delphinapterus leucas. J Fish Res Bd Can 26:2561–2580

    Google Scholar 

  • Shelden KEW, Rugh DJ, Mahoney BA, Dahlheim ME (2003) Killer whale predation on belugas in Cook Inlet, Alaska: implications for a depleted population. Mar Mamm Sci 19:529–544

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Springer AM, Estes JA, van Vliet GB, Williams TM, Doak DF, Danner EM, Forney KA, Pfister B (2003) Sequential megafaunal collapse in the North Pacific Ocean: an ongoing legacy of industrial whaling? Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100:12223–12228

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart REA (1994) Size-at-age relationships as discriminators of white whale (Delphinapterus leucas) stocks in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Meddr Gronland Biosci 39:217–225

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart REA, Campana SE, Jones CM, Stewart BE (2007) Bomb radiocarbon dating calibrates beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) age estimates. Can J Zool 84:1840–1852

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stirling I (2002) Polar bears and seals in the Eastern Beaufort Sea and Amundsen Gulf: a synthesis of population trends and ecological relationships over three decades. Arctic 55:59–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Trites AW, Deecke VB, Gregr EJ, Ford JKB, Olesiuk PF (2007a) Killer whales, whaling, and sequential megafaunal collapse in the North Pacific: a comparative analysis of the dynamics of marine mammals in Alaska and British Columbia following commercial whaling. Mar Mamm Sci 23:751–765

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trites AW, Donnelly CP (2003) The decline of Steller sea lions Eumetopias jubatus in Alaska: a review of the nutritional stress hypothesis. Mammal Rev 33:3–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trites AW, Miller AJ, Maschner HDG, Alexander MA, Bograd SJ, Calder JA, Capotondi A, Coyle KO, Di Lorenzo E, Finney BP, Gregr EJ, Grosch CE, Hare SR, Hunt Jr GL, Jahnke J, Kachel NB, Kim HJ, Ladd C, Mantua NJ, Marzban C, Maslowski W, Mendelssohn R, Neilson DJ, Okkonen SR, Overland JE, Reedy-Maschner KL, Royer TC, Schwing FB, Wang JXL, Winship AJ (2007b) Bottom-up forcing and the decline of Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) in Alaska: assessing the ocean climate hypothesis. Fish Oceanogr 16:46–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watanabe H, Kawaguchi K (2003) Decadal change in the diets of the surface migratory myctophid fish Myctophum nitidilum in the Kuroshio region of the western North Pacific: predation on sardine larvae by myctophids. Fish Sci 69:716–721

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Windsor CP (1932) The Gompertz curve as a growth curve. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 18:1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winship AJ, Trites AW, Calkins DG (2001) Growth in body size of the Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus). J Mammal 82:500–519

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu L, Eun Lee D, Liu Z (2005) The 1976/77 North Pacific climate regime shift: the role of the Subtropical Ocean adjustment and coupled ocean-atmosphere feedbacks. J Clim 18:5125–5140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young RA (1976) Fat, energy and mammalian survival. Am Zool 16:699–710

    Google Scholar 

  • Zar JH (1996) Biostatistical analysis. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank the Fisheries Joint Management Committee for financial support for this study. We are grateful to Blair Dunn, Lois Harwood, Pierre Richard, and Robert Stewart who provided invaluable access to original data and feedback during elaboration of this manuscript. We thank the communities of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, without whose collaboration this work would not have been possible. Two anonymous reviewers and editorial comments helped improve this paper. The beluga subsistence hunt and sample collection were carried out under Canadian law.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Memorial University, St. John’s, NL A1B 3X9, Canada

    Sebastián P. Luque

  2. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 501 University Crescent, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N6, Canada

    Steven H. Ferguson

Authors
  1. Sebastián P. Luque
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Steven H. Ferguson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sebastián P. Luque.

Additional information

Communicated by Marc Mangel.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Electronic supplementary material (PDF 572 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Luque, S.P., Ferguson, S.H. Ecosystem regime shifts have not affected growth and survivorship of eastern Beaufort Sea belugas. Oecologia 160, 367–378 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1300-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1300-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation