ArticlePloS one2017
Estimating blue whale skin isotopic incorporation rates and baleen growth rates: Implications for assessing diet and movement patterns in mysticetes.
Article in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 91 citations in OpenAlex.
- Stable Isotope Composition of Skin Layers Confirms Trophic Differentiation of Baird's and Sato's Beaked Whales (Berardius spp.) in the Western North Pacific.Rapid communications in mass spectrometry : RCM · 2026Article
- Influence of Solvent Lipid Extraction on Tissue-Specific Carbon Isotopes.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- What normal used to be: Longitudinal adrenal, reproductive, and thyroid hormone profiles from four bowhead whales during a period of Arctic stability.Conservation physiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Stable isotopic composition of Antarctic and Patagonian marine mammals collected before and during industrial-scale whaling: assessing the baseline for long-term changes in the marine ecosystem.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Historical baleen plates indicate that once abundant Antarctic blue and fin whales demonstrated distinct migratory and foraging strategies.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Long-term stability in the circumpolar foraging range of a Southern Ocean predator between the eras of whaling and rapid climate change.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Interpretation of southern hemisphere humpback whale diet via stable isotopes; implications of tissue-specific analysis.PloS one · 2023Article
- Naturally stressed? Glucocorticoid profiles in blubber of blue and gray whales in response to life history parameters.Marine Mammal Science · 2022Article
- Article
- Isotopic composition of the eastern gray whale epidermis indicates contribution of prey outside Arctic feeding grounds.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Reconstructing the diet, trophic level and migration pattern of mysticete whales based on baleen isotopic composition.Royal Society open science · 2021Article
- Blubber endocrine profiles provide insights into reproductive biology in blue whales from the eastern North Pacific Ocean.General and comparative endocrinology · 2021Article
- Individual and population dietary specialization decline in fin whales during a period of ecosystem shift.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Multi-year progesterone profiles during pregnancy in baleen of humpback whales (Conservation physiology · 2021Article
- Article
- Application of endocrine biomarkers to update information on reproductive physiology in gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus).PloS one · 2021Article
- Exploring variability in the diet of depredating sperm whales in the Gulf of Alaska through stable isotope analysis.Royal Society open science · 2020Article
- Tracing gestation and lactation in free ranging gray whales using the stable isotopic composition of epidermis layers.PloS one · 2020Article
- Stable isotope records of sei whale baleens from Chilean Patagonia as archives for feeding and migration behavior.Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Stable isotope analysis in mysticete skin and baleen plates has been repeatedly used to assess diet and movement patterns. Accurate interpretation of isotope data depends on understanding isotopic incorporation rates for metabolically active tissues and growth rates for metabolically inert tissues. The aim of this research was to estimate isotopic incorporation rates in blue whale skin and baleen growth rates by using natural gradients in baseline isotope values between oceanic regions. Nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) isotope values of blue whale skin and potential prey were analyzed from three foraging zones (Gulf of California, California Current System, and Costa Rica Dome) in the northeast Pacific from 1996-2015. We also measured δ15N and δ13C values along the lengths of baleen plates collected from six blue whales stranded in the 1980s and 2000s. Skin was separated into three strata: basale, externum, and sloughed skin. A mean (±SD) skin isotopic incorporation rate of 163±91 days was estimated by fitting a generalized additive model of the seasonal trend in δ15N values of skin strata collected in the Gulf of California and the California Current System. A mean (±SD) baleen growth rate of 15.5±2.2 cm y-1 was estimated by using seasonal oscillations in δ15N values from three whales. These oscillations also showed that individual whales have a high fidelity to distinct foraging zones in the northeast Pacific across years. The absence of oscillations in δ15N values of baleen sub-samples from three male whales suggests these individuals remained within a specific zone for several years prior to death. δ13C values of both whale tissues (skin and baleen) and potential prey were not distinct among foraging zones. Our results highlight the importance of considering tissue isotopic incorporation and growth rates when studying migratory mysticetes and provide new insights into the individual movement strategies of blue whales.
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