Environmental evidence for a pygmy blue whale aggregation area in the Subtropical Convergence Zone south of Australia

© 2018 Society for Marine Mammalogy. The importance of the Subtropical Convergence Zone south of Australia as a feeding area to the pygmy blue whale of the eastern Indian Ocean was investigated to better understand migration patterns and habitat use. A combination of satellite tagging studies during...

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Main Authors: Garcia-Rojas, M., Jenner, K., Gill, P., Jenner, M., Sutton, A., McCauley, Robert
Format: Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/68170
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author Garcia-Rojas, M.
Jenner, K.
Gill, P.
Jenner, M.
Sutton, A.
McCauley, Robert
author_facet Garcia-Rojas, M.
Jenner, K.
Gill, P.
Jenner, M.
Sutton, A.
McCauley, Robert
author_sort Garcia-Rojas, M.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2018 Society for Marine Mammalogy. The importance of the Subtropical Convergence Zone south of Australia as a feeding area to the pygmy blue whale of the eastern Indian Ocean was investigated to better understand migration patterns and habitat use. A combination of satellite tagging studies during 2003-2005 and acoustic and visual surveys during the austral summer of 2013 confirmed the presence of pygmy blue whales in the Subtropical Convergence Zone and provided evidence for feeding throughout the region. Of the 67 pygmy blue whales acoustically detected, many were localized in proximity to sea surface temperature fronts and high chlorophyll concentrations, which could be a behavioral strategy to attract conspecifics to good feeding sites. Aggregations of up to four pygmy blue whales, along with decreased call rates during the day, may suggest feeding despite no direct observations of pygmy blue whales consuming euphausiids. The oceanographic features present throughout the Subtropical Convergence Zone continue to create an environment productive enough to support the world's largest living mammals during their migratory foraging movements between the Southern Ocean and Indonesia.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-681702018-05-18T08:07:42Z Environmental evidence for a pygmy blue whale aggregation area in the Subtropical Convergence Zone south of Australia Garcia-Rojas, M. Jenner, K. Gill, P. Jenner, M. Sutton, A. McCauley, Robert © 2018 Society for Marine Mammalogy. The importance of the Subtropical Convergence Zone south of Australia as a feeding area to the pygmy blue whale of the eastern Indian Ocean was investigated to better understand migration patterns and habitat use. A combination of satellite tagging studies during 2003-2005 and acoustic and visual surveys during the austral summer of 2013 confirmed the presence of pygmy blue whales in the Subtropical Convergence Zone and provided evidence for feeding throughout the region. Of the 67 pygmy blue whales acoustically detected, many were localized in proximity to sea surface temperature fronts and high chlorophyll concentrations, which could be a behavioral strategy to attract conspecifics to good feeding sites. Aggregations of up to four pygmy blue whales, along with decreased call rates during the day, may suggest feeding despite no direct observations of pygmy blue whales consuming euphausiids. The oceanographic features present throughout the Subtropical Convergence Zone continue to create an environment productive enough to support the world's largest living mammals during their migratory foraging movements between the Southern Ocean and Indonesia. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/68170 10.1111/mms.12494 Wiley-Blackwell Publishing restricted
spellingShingle Garcia-Rojas, M.
Jenner, K.
Gill, P.
Jenner, M.
Sutton, A.
McCauley, Robert
Environmental evidence for a pygmy blue whale aggregation area in the Subtropical Convergence Zone south of Australia
title Environmental evidence for a pygmy blue whale aggregation area in the Subtropical Convergence Zone south of Australia
title_full Environmental evidence for a pygmy blue whale aggregation area in the Subtropical Convergence Zone south of Australia
title_fullStr Environmental evidence for a pygmy blue whale aggregation area in the Subtropical Convergence Zone south of Australia
title_full_unstemmed Environmental evidence for a pygmy blue whale aggregation area in the Subtropical Convergence Zone south of Australia
title_short Environmental evidence for a pygmy blue whale aggregation area in the Subtropical Convergence Zone south of Australia
title_sort environmental evidence for a pygmy blue whale aggregation area in the subtropical convergence zone south of australia
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/68170