ArticleRoyal Society open science2024
Decreasing body size is associated with reduced calving probability in critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.
Article in Royal Society open science, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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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
9 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Costs of maternal care revealed through body conditionin Northern Resident killer whales (Orcinus orca).Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Population Consequences of Physiological Responses to Stressors: A Road Map for Endocrine Data.Integrative and comparative biology · 2026Article
- The combined effects of multiple stressors in an endangered, long-lived species: Lessons learned and ways forward.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2025Article
- Longer rorqual whale mothers produce more female offspring.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- An approach to using stranding data to monitor cetacean population trends and guide conservation strategies.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Body size, nutritional state and endocrine state are associated with calving probability in a long-lived marine species.The Journal of animal ecology · 2025Article
- The future of baleen whales: Recoveries, environmental constraints, and climate change.Science advances · 2025Review
- Respiratory microbiomes reflect whale health.The ISME journal · 2025Article
- Decreasing body size is associated with reduced calving probability in critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Body size is key to many life-history processes, including reproduction. Across species, climate change and other stressors have caused reductions in the body size to which animals can grow, called asymptotic size, with consequences for demography. A reduction in mean asymptotic length was documented for critically endangered North Atlantic right whales, in parallel with declines in health and vital rates resulting from human activities and environmental changes. Here, we tested whether smaller body size was associated with lower reproductive output, using a state-space model for individual health, survival and reproduction that quantifies the mechanistic links between these processes. Body size (as represented by the cube of length) was strongly associated with a female's calving probability at each reproductive opportunity. This relationship explained 62% of the variation in calving among reproductive females, along with their decreasing health (20%). The effects of decreasing mean body size on reproductive performance are another concerning indication of the worsening prospects for this species and many others affected by environmental change, requiring a focus of conservation and management interventions on improving conditions that affect reproduction as well as reducing mortality.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.