Cetacean Sessions is back with Season 3!!

This year, Whale Scientists is in charge of organizing the sessions and hosting our guests. Join us for episode 14: we will discuss bowhead whale diets in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Our guest, Tommy Pontbriand, will discuss his recent publication in Marine Ecology and Progress Series. Presentation and discussion will be followed by live Q&A with the audience.

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Cetacean Sessions is a bi-weekly seasonal webinar series where we discuss impactful recently published scientific research on cetaceans with those conducting it around the world. Season 3 is focused exclusively on early-career researchers' publications. Cetacean Sessions is informal, educational, interactive, and geared towards those working with or interested in cetaceans. You can register for sessions and follow our channel for free with no account creation necessary.

Tommy Pontbriand is a Pacific salmon stock assessment biologist for Fisheries and Oceans Canada who recently completed his master’s degree at the University of Manitoba on the foraging ecology of bowhead whales under the supervision of Dr. Steven Ferguson. His expertise on Arctic marine zooplankton acquired during his undergraduate studies at Laval University led him to study the impact of shifting prey assemblages on the longest-living mammal: the bowhead whale.

What Tommy will cover during the presentation

Shifts in zooplankton quantity and quality caused by climate change could challenge the ability of plankton-feeding bowhead whales to meet their energetic requirements. When facing such selection pressure, intra-population variation dampens the negative effects and provides population-level resilience. Previous studies observed inter-individual diet variation in bowhead whales, but the mechanism responsible for the variation was undetermined.

We investigated foraging variability in Eastern Canada-West Greenland bowhead whales using dietary biomarkers (stable isotopes, fatty acids) and movement data (satellite telemetry with time-depth recorders) from the same individuals.

We found that bowhead whale individuals using distinct summer and fall foraging habitats displayed differences in horizontal movements, foraging dive depth, and diet. Overall, this inter-individual variation in diet and foraging behavior could indicate some niche variation that would be beneficial for the population under changing habitats and prey availability.

Whale scientists is a science communication platform created by two PhD students, Anaïs Remili and Naomi Mathew. It aims to share scientific knowledge with the public in a fun, entertaining way, to share tips with aspiring marine mammalogists on how to become whale scientists, and to share the incredible journeys of early-career researchers. You can find more info at: https://whalescientists.com/

Bay Cetology enables conservation and understanding of cetacean populations that are data deficient or threatened by climate change and human development. Our marine biologists and research technicians use various expertise to conduct field studies, analyze data, and communicate findings. Bay Cetology was founded by Jared Towers in 2017 and is based out of Alert Bay (Home of the Killer Whale) in the unceded traditional territory of the ‘Namgis First Nation, British Columbia, Canada. See more about our previous work and current projects at https://baycetology.org

Cetacean Session #14