Baleen whale consumption is re-measured, and the krill paradox sharpens

Assembled from 68 blocks · 1 evidence · 92 related

1. Story
2. High-resolution foraging measurements find that earlier work underestimated baleen whale prey consumption by threefold or more in some ecosystems. Pre-whaling Southern Ocean baleen whales are estimated to have eaten around 430 million tonnes of Antarctic krill a year - about twice the current estimated standing biomass of the species. The same work estimates iron recycling by Southern Ocean baleen whales at around 1.2 x 10⁴ tonnes a year before whaling against 1.2 x 10³ tonnes today, offering a mechanism for why krill declined rather than increased after the whales were removed.
3. Knowledge
4. Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
5. Whale-Mediated Iron Recycling
6. Baleen whale consumption is re-measured, and the krill paradox sharpens
7. Antarctic Krill (Euphausia superba)
8. Southern Ocean
9. Connections
10. Whale-Mediated Iron Recycling
11. Antarctic Krill (Euphausia superba)
12. Southern Ocean
13. Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
14. Seasonal Krill Aggregation
15. Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
16. Baleen whale consumption is re-measured, and the krill paradox sharpens
17. Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus)
18. Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
19. Baleen whale consumption is re-measured, and the krill paradox sharpens
20. Antarctic Polar Front (Antarctic Convergence)
21. Sea Ice
22. Southern Ocean
23. Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri)
24. CCAMLR is agreed at Canberra
25. A long-term decline in krill density is linked to winter sea ice
26. CCAMLR adopts the Ross Sea marine protected area
27. Antarctic Blue Whale (B. m. intermedia)
28. Antarctic Summer Feeding Migration
29. South Georgia
30. Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary
31. Seasonal Krill Aggregation
32. The factory ship Lancing takes a stern slipway south
33. The Antarctic blue whale catch reaches its all-time peak
34. The Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary is adopted
35. Dedicated Antarctic Blue Whale Project voyages
36. Baleen whale consumption is re-measured, and the krill paradox sharpens
37. The only published Antarctic blue whale satellite tracks are released as data
38. Antarctic Krill (Euphausia superba)
39. Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)
40. CCAMLR is agreed at Canberra
41. A long-term decline in krill density is linked to winter sea ice
42. CCAMLR adopts the Ross Sea marine protected area
43. Antarctic sea ice reaches a record low, a year after the previous one
44. Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC)
45. Antarctica
46. Thermohaline Circulation
47. North Atlantic — Grand Banks approaches
48. Weddell Sea
49. A circumpolar current becomes possible
50. Antarctic meltwater is projected to slow the abyssal cell
51. A physics-based early warning signal is proposed
52. Antarctic Krill (Euphausia superba)
53. Rorqual Lunge Feeding
54. Antarctic Blue Whale (B. m. intermedia)
55. Pygmy Blue Whale (B. m. brevicauda)
56. Northern Indian Ocean Blue Whale (putative B. m. indica)
57. Fin Whale (Balaenoptera physalus)
58. Whale-Mediated Iron Recycling
59. Vessel Collision with Large Whales
60. The longest blue whale on record is measured at South Georgia
61. The heaviest blue whale on record is weighed
62. The IWC protects blue whales from commercial hunting
63. The commercial whaling moratorium takes effect
64. Blue whale song frequencies are observed falling worldwide
65. The energetics of blue whale lunge feeding are modelled
66. Baleen whale consumption is re-measured, and the krill paradox sharpens
67. Evidence
68. Earlier work underestimated baleen whale prey consumption by threefold or more in some ecosystems; pre-whaling Southern Ocean mysticetes are estimated to have consumed about 430 million tonnes of Antarctic krill a year, roughly twice the current estimated standing biomass of the species; estimated iron recycling by Southern Ocean mysticetes was about 1.2 x 10^4 tonnes a year before whaling against about 1.2 x 10^3 tonnes a year today. V55 verification basis: the krill and iron figures were retrieved in search summary attributed to the paper; the frequently quoted "16 tonnes a day" per blue whale came from general-audience reporting and is not asserted as a figure in this pack.