Southern Hemisphere humpback whales wintering off Central America:: insights from water temperature into the longest mammalian migration
Southern Hemisphere humpback whales wintering off Central America:: insights from water temperature into the longest mammalian migration
复制标题
DOI：
10.1098/rsbl.2007.0067
复制
发表时间：
2007-06-22
期刊：
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
Stone, Gregory S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Rasmussen, Kristin;Palacios, Daniel M.;Stone, Gregory S.
我们报道了中美洲太平洋海岸附近的一个越冬地区，座头鲸(Megaptera Novaeangliae)从南极洲附近的捕食区迁徙过来。我们记录了七个个体，包括一对母婴，完成了这次迁徙(约.8300公里)，这是哺乳动物进行的最长的运动。在哥斯达黎加以北远至北纬11度的地方发现了鲸鱼，在相反的冬季，该地区也有北方种群使用，导致北半球和南半球种群之间独特的空间重叠。这种偏北越冬区的出现与南太平洋东部赤道冷水舌的发展是一致的，这种模式在南大西洋东部重复出现。对世界各地越冬地区的位置和水温的调查表明，它们存在于温暖的水域(21.1-28.3摄氏度)，无论纬度如何。我们认为，虽然在越冬区有合适的繁殖栖息地在细微尺度上是重要的，但水温在流域尺度上影响鲸鱼的分布。在温水中发育的幼崽可能会导致更大的成体尺寸和更高的繁殖成功率，这一策略支持了能量守恒假说，将其作为迁徙的原因。
We report on a wintering area off the Pacific coast of Central America for humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) migrating from feeding areas off Antarctica. We document seven individuals, including a mother/calf pair, that made this migration (approx. 8300 kin), the longest movement undertaken by any mammal. Whales were observed as far north as 11 degrees N off Costa Rica, in an area also used by a boreal population during the opposite winter season, resulting in unique spatial overlap between Northern and Southern Hemisphere populations. The occurrence of such a northerly wintering area is coincident with the development of an equatorial tongue of cold water in the eastern South Pacific, a pattern that is repeated in the eastern South Atlantic. A survey of location and water temperature at the wintering areas worldwide indicates that they are found in warm waters (21.1-28.3 degrees C), irrespective of latitude. We contend that while availability of suitable reproductive habitat in the wintering areas is important at the fine scale, water temperature influences whale distribution at the basin scale. Calf development in warm water may lead to larger adult size and increased reproductive success, a strategy that supports the energy conservation hypothesis as a reason for migration.