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Friedlaender AS, Joyce T, Johnston DW, Read AJ, Nowacek DP, Goldbogen JA, Gales N, Durban JW
Sympatry and resource partitioning between the largest krill consumers around the Antarctic Peninsula
Some of the first satellite tag data from baleen whales in the Antarctic were used to show how the long-term behavior of Antarctic minke whales and humpback whales are influenced by features of their environment. We found that humpback whales generally utilize a much broader geographic region of the Antarctic continental shelf than Antarctic minke whales which are largely confined to coastal bays and areas close to shore with sea ice. A substantial overlap was observed between the 2 species particularly in the regions that are most important for Antarctic minke whales. As rapid warming of the western Antarctic Peninsula diminishes sea ice cover, humpback whales will likely have increased habitat available to them while Antarctic minke whale habitat is likely to diminish and become limiting.