Isotopic Niche Analysis of Long-Finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala melas edwardii) in Aotearoa New Zealand Waters

Hinton B; Stockin KA; Bury SJ; Peters KJ; Betty EL

Isotopic Niche Analysis of Long-Finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala melas edwardii) in Aotearoa New Zealand Waters

dc.citation.issue	10
dc.citation.volume	11
dc.contributor.author	Hinton B
dc.contributor.author	Stockin KA
dc.contributor.author	Bury SJ
dc.contributor.author	Peters KJ
dc.contributor.author	Betty EL
dc.contributor.editor	Calizza E
dc.contributor.editor	Careddu G
dc.contributor.editor	Costantini ML
dc.coverage.spatial	Switzerland
dc.date.accessioned	2023-12-15T01:34:09Z
dc.date.accessioned	2024-07-25T06:42:37Z
dc.date.available	2022-09-28
dc.date.available	2023-12-15T01:34:09Z
dc.date.available	2024-07-25T06:42:37Z
dc.date.issued	2022-09-28
dc.description.abstract	The quantification of a species' trophic niche is important to understand the species ecology and its interactions with the ecosystem it resides in. Despite the high frequency of long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas edwardii) strandings on the Aotearoa New Zealand coast, their trophic niche remains poorly understood. To assess the isotopic niche of G. m. edwardii within New Zealand, ontogenetic (sex, total body length, age, maturity status, reproductive group) and spatiotemporal (stranding location, stranding event, and stranding year) variation were investigated. Stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) were examined from skin samples of 125 G. m. edwardii (67 females and 58 males) collected at mass-stranding events at Onetahua Farewell Spit in 2009 (n = 20), 2011 (n = 20), 2014 (n = 27) and 2017 (n = 20) and at Rakiura Stewart Island in 2010 (n = 19) and 2011 (n = 19). Variations in δ34S values were examined for a subset of 36 individuals. General additive models revealed that stranding event was the strongest predictor for δ13C and δ15N values, whilst sex was the strongest predictor of δ34S isotopic values. Although similar within years, δ13C values were lower in 2014 and 2017 compared to all other years. Furthermore, δ15N values were higher within Farewell Spit 2017 compared to any other stranding event. This suggests that the individuals stranded in Farewell Spit in 2017 may have been feeding at a higher trophic level, or that the nitrogen baseline may have been higher in 2017 than in other years. Spatiotemporal differences explained isotopic variation of G. m. edwardii in New Zealand waters better than ontogenetic factors.
dc.description.confidential	false
dc.edition.edition	October 2022
dc.format.pagination	1414-
dc.identifier.author-url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36290319
dc.identifier.citation	Hinton B, Stockin KA, Bury SJ, Peters KJ, Betty EL. (2022). Isotopic Niche Analysis of Long-Finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala melas edwardii) in Aotearoa New Zealand Waters.. Biology (Basel). 11. 10. (pp. 1414-).
dc.identifier.doi	10.3390/biology11101414
dc.identifier.eissn	2079-7737
dc.identifier.elements-type	journal-article
dc.identifier.issn	2079-7737
dc.identifier.number	1414
dc.identifier.pii	biology11101414
dc.identifier.uri	https://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/70723
dc.language	eng
dc.publisher	MDPI (Basel, Switzerland)
dc.publisher.uri	https://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/11/10/1414
dc.relation.isPartOf	Biology (Basel)
dc.rights	(c) The author/s	en
dc.rights.license	CC BY 4.0	en
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/	en
dc.subject	foraging ecology
dc.subject	isotope
dc.subject	trophic ecology
dc.subject	δ13C
dc.subject	δ15N
dc.subject	δ34S
dc.title	Isotopic Niche Analysis of Long-Finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala melas edwardii) in Aotearoa New Zealand Waters
dc.type	Journal article
pubs.elements-id	457697
pubs.organisational-group	Other