Ecological niche partitioning between baleen whales inhabiting Icelandic waters

Abstract

The highly productive waters off Iceland are an important feeding ground for baleen whales. Five balaenopterid species coexist there during the summer feeding season: the blue whale, the fin whale, the sei whale, the humpback whale and the common minke whale. For capital breeders such as baleen whales, niche partitioning and reduced interspecific competition during their stay in the feeding grounds may be critical for the completion of their annual cycles and the long-term stability of populations. Coexistence often entails spatio-temporal or trophic segregation to avoid competitive exclusion. With the aim of studying how these species share habitat and trophic resources, we analyzed the δ13C, δ15N and δ34S values in skin samples. Bayesian stable isotope mixing models to calculate compositional mixture of food sources showed that most species segregate by consuming different prey. Segregation was further enhanced by some degree of spatio-temporal exclusion. Overall, clear ecological niche partitioning was apparent between all species except between blue and fin whales. All the species consumed krill and, except for the common minke whale, this was the dominant prey. Among baleen whales, common minke whales and humpback whales were the major predators of sand eel, capelin and herring. In humpback whales, a strong reliance on krill may explain the apparently low rates of local entanglement in fishing nets as compared to other areas. Except for the blue whale, all species have shown evidence of adapting to shifts in prey availability and thus suggested capacity to cope with variability. However, in a scenario of increasing environmental variability associated to global warming, the overlap between ecological niches may have to decrease to allow long-term coexistence.