ArticlePloS one2021
Amino acid δ15N differences consistent with killer whale ecotypes in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic.
Article in PloS one, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Advancing Amino Acid Isotope-Inferred Trophic Ecology in an Apex Predator: Insights From a Data-Rich Killer Whale Population.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Genetic and Ecological Divergence Between Northwest Atlantic Killer Whale Populations.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Comparison of δScientific reports · 2024Article
- Distributions of Arctic and Northwest Atlantic killer whales inferred from oxygen isotopes.Scientific reports · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Ecotypes are groups within a species with different ecological adaptations than their conspecifics. Eastern North Pacific (ENP) killer whale (Orcinus orca) ecotypes differ in their diet, behavior, and morphology, but the same is not known for this species in the eastern Canadian Arctic (ECA) and Northwest Atlantic (NWA). Using compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) of amino acids (AAs), we compared δ15N patterns of the primary trophic and source AA pair, glutamic acid/glutamine (Glx) and phenylalanine (Phe), in dentine collagen of (1) sympatric ENP killer whale ecotypes with well-characterized diet differences and (2) ECA/NWA killer whales with unknown diets. δ15NGlx-Phe was significantly higher in the ENP fish-eating (FE) than mammal-eating (ME) ecotype (19.2 ± 0.4‰ vs. 13.5 ± 0.7‰, respectively). Similar bimodal variation in δ15NGlx-Phe indicated analogous dietary divisions among ECA/NWA killer whales, with two killer whales having higher δ15NGlx-Phe (16.5 ± 0.0‰) than the others (13.5 ± 0.6‰). Inferences of dietary divisions between these killer whales were supported by parallel differences in threonine δ15N (-33.5 ± 1.6‰ and -40.4 ± 1.1‰, respectively), given the negative correlation between δ15NThr and TP across a range of marine consumers. CSIA-AA results for ECA/NWA whales, coupled with differences in tooth wear (a correlate for diet), are consistent with ecotype characteristics reported in ENP and other killer whale populations, thus adding to documented ecological divergence in this species worldwide.
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