{"id":354410,"date":"2021-10-18T15:50:01","date_gmt":"2021-10-18T12:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/study-suggests-climate-change-could-prevent-recovery-of-southern-right-whales\/"},"modified":"2021-10-18T15:50:01","modified_gmt":"2021-10-18T12:50:01","slug":"study-suggests-climate-change-could-prevent-recovery-of-southern-right-whales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/study-suggests-climate-change-could-prevent-recovery-of-southern-right-whales\/","title":{"rendered":"#Study suggests climate change could prevent recovery of southern right whales"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Study suggests climate change could prevent recovery of southern right whales<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\n Fig. 1. SRW female survival and climate change. (A) Female survival probabilities for SRWs (E. australis) identified between 1971 and 2017 at Pen\u00ednsula Vald\u00e9s, Argentina. Estimated survival in year t should be read as the probability of surviving to the end of that annual period. Estimates are shown with 95% CI (error bars). Years are categorized by ENSO phase (color code). (B) Oceanic El Ni\u00f1o Index (ONI) representing 3 months running mean sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in El Ni\u00f1o 3.4 region from 1970 to 2019 (ONI values greater than 0.5, red line, represent the warm phase\/El Ni\u00f1o; ONI values lower than \u22120.5, blue line, represent the cool phase\/La Ni\u00f1a; ONI values between 0.5 and \u22120.5, black line, represent the neutral phase). Data are taken from the rsoi R package. (C) Mean monthly SST of SW Atlantic Ocean (30\u00b0W to 70\u00b0W, 42\u00b0S to 77\u00b0S) from 1970 to 2019. Data are taken from the COBE Dataset (www.esrl.noaa.gov\/psd\/data\/gridded\/data.cobe.html). (D) Mean density (individuals m\u22122) of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) within the SW Atlantic Ocean, based on standardized densities. Years with >50 (black) and <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

An international team of researchers has found evidence suggesting that if global warming continues, the recovery of southern right whales may be stifled. In their paper published in the journal Science<\/a> Advances<\/i>, the group describes their study of the whales and what they learned about them.<\/p>\n


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Southern right whales are a type of baleen whale that live in the Southern Hemisphere and are currently listed as endangered. Prior to modern whaling, their population is believed to have been app<\/a>roximately 35,000. Their numbers dwindled significantly until the 1930’s when protection laws were put in place. In this new effort, the researchers have found evidence suggesting the recovery of the whales may run into trouble if global warming continues.<\/p>\n

The work by the team focused on the Southern Right Whale Program, a project involving the study and preservation of the whales that includes 50+ years of data. Included in the data are population numbers of whales that calf near the Valdes peninsula each year, which is a measure of population growth in general<\/a>. The researchers noted population dips following El Ni\u00f1o years\u2014both in 1997\u20131998 and 2015\u20132016. They suggest the dips were the result of warmer waters melting more glacial ice in Antarctica resulting in reductions in krill, which is the main food source for southern right whales. Noting that prior studies have suggested that as the planet continues to grow warmer, El Ni\u00f1o events are likely to occur more often, they built a model to find out how global warming may impact southern right whale population growth.<\/p>\n

The model showed that if the frequency and intensity of El Ni\u00f1o events remain as they are now, the population of the whales will continue to grow\u2014reaching approximately 85% of their pre-whaling days numbers over the next century. But if the frequency and intensity of El Ni\u00f1o events increase due to global warming, the situation grows dire. The worst-case scenario (a 4.4\u00b0C global rise in temperatures over the next century) showed the increase in population slowing to the point that the whales would never reach their former numbers.<\/p>\n\n

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Acoustic research sheds new light on whale sounds\u00a0\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n More information:<\/strong>
\n Macarena Agrelo et al, Ocean warming threatens southern right whale population recovery, Science Advances<\/i> (2021). DOI: 10.1126\/sciadv.abh2823<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

\n \u00a9 2021 Science X Network<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Study suggests climate change could prevent recovery of southern right whales (2021, October 18)
\n retrieved 18 October 2021
\n from https:\/\/phys.org\/news<\/a>\/2021-10-climate-recovery-southern-whales.html<\/p>\n

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