Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Strong and lasting impacts of past global warming on baleen whales and their prey

Cabrera, Andrea A.; Schall, Elena; Bérubé, Martine; Anderwald, Pia; Bachmann, Lutz; Berrow, Simon; Best, Peter B.; Clapham, Phillip J.; Cunha, Haydée A.; Dalla Rosa, Luciano; Dias, Carolina; Findlay, Kenneth P.; Haug, Tore; Heide‐Jørgensen, Mads Peter; Hoelzel, A. Rus; Kovacs, Kit M.; Landry, Scott; Larsen, Finn; Lopes, Xênia M.; Lydersen, Christian; Mattila, David K.; Oosting, Tom; Pace, Richard M.; Papetti, Chiara; Paspati, Angeliki; Pastene, Luis A.; Prieto, Rui; Ramp, Christian; Robbins, Jooke; Sears, Richard; Secchi, Eduardo R.; Silva, Mónica A.; Simon, Malene; Víkingsson, Gísli; Wiig, Øystein; Øien, Nils; Palsbøll, Per J.

Strong and lasting impacts of past global warming on baleen whales and their prey Thumbnail


Authors

Andrea A. Cabrera

Elena Schall

Martine Bérubé

Pia Anderwald

Lutz Bachmann

Simon Berrow

Peter B. Best

Phillip J. Clapham

Haydée A. Cunha

Luciano Dalla Rosa

Carolina Dias

Kenneth P. Findlay

Tore Haug

Mads Peter Heide‐Jørgensen

Kit M. Kovacs

Scott Landry

Finn Larsen

Xênia M. Lopes

Christian Lydersen

David K. Mattila

Tom Oosting

Richard M. Pace

Chiara Papetti

Angeliki Paspati

Luis A. Pastene

Rui Prieto

Christian Ramp

Jooke Robbins

Richard Sears

Eduardo R. Secchi

Mónica A. Silva

Malene Simon

Gísli Víkingsson

Øystein Wiig

Nils Øien

Per J. Palsbøll



Abstract

Global warming is affecting the population dynamics and trophic interactions across a wide range of ecosystems and habitats. Translating these real-time effects into their long-term consequences remains a challenge. The rapid and extreme warming period that occurred after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition (7–12 thousand years ago) provides an opportunity to gain insights into the long-term responses of natural populations to periods with global warming. The effects of this post-LGM warming period have been assessed in many terrestrial taxa, whereas insights into the impacts of rapid global warming on marine taxa remain limited, especially for megafauna. In order to understand how large-scale climate fluctuations during the post-LGM affected baleen whales and their prey, we conducted an extensive, large-scale analysis of the long-term effects of the post-LGM warming on abundance and inter-ocean connectivity in eight baleen whale and seven prey (fish and invertebrates) species across the Southern and the North Atlantic Ocean; two ocean basins that differ in key oceanographic features. The analysis was based upon 7032 mitochondrial DNA sequences as well as genome-wide DNA sequence variation in 100 individuals. The estimated temporal changes in genetic diversity during the last 30,000 years indicated that most baleen whale populations underwent post-LGM expansions in both ocean basins. The increase in baleen whale abundance during the Holocene was associated with simultaneous changes in their prey and climate. Highly correlated, synchronized and exponential increases in abundance in both baleen whales and their prey in the Southern Ocean were indicative of a dramatic increase in ocean productivity. In contrast, the demographic fluctuations observed in baleen whales and their prey in the North Atlantic Ocean were subtle, varying across taxa and time. Perhaps most important was the observation that the ocean-wide expansions and decreases in abundance that were initiated by the post-LGM global warming, continued for millennia after global temperatures stabilized, reflecting persistent, long-lasting impacts of global warming on marine fauna.

Citation

Cabrera, A. A., Schall, E., Bérubé, M., Anderwald, P., Bachmann, L., Berrow, S., …Palsbøll, P. J. (2022). Strong and lasting impacts of past global warming on baleen whales and their prey. Global Change Biology, 28(8), 2657-2677. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16085

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 3, 2021
Online Publication Date Feb 2, 2022
Publication Date 2022-04
Deposit Date May 31, 2022
Publicly Available Date May 31, 2022
Journal Global Change Biology
Print ISSN 1354-1013
Electronic ISSN 1365-2486
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 28
Issue 8
Pages 2657-2677
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16085

Files

Published Journal Article (3.4 Mb)
PDF

Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.





You might also like



Downloadable Citations