Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40561014›Full record

ReviewScience advances2025

The future of baleen whales: Recoveries, environmental constraints, and climate change.

Joshua D Stewart, M Tim Tinker, Robert L Brownell, Andrew J Read

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Science advances, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Drivers of population dynamics and juvenile mortality in Northwest Atlantic harp seals.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Joshua D StewartOcean Ecology Lab, Marine Mammal Institute, Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences, Oregon State University, Newport, OR, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6851-2289
M Tim TinkerNhydra Ecological Research, Head of St. Margaret's Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-3314-839X
Robert L BrownellSouthwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries, La Jolla, CA, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6049-3180
Andrew J ReadDuke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6039-074X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Most baleen whales were severely overexploited during the past century, but many populations have received near-complete protection from exploitation for more than a half-century. Some of these populations have made remarkable recoveries and are now approaching pre-exploitation levels of abundance. Contrary to expectations of baleen whales making minor oscillations around equilibrium abundances, several populations that have made the strongest recoveries have experienced major mortality events. We review examples from the literature showing increasing demographic variability in recovering populations of baleen whales and present a simulation study on the expected response of recovered versus depleted whale population to environmental variability and climate impacts. We propose that baleen whales are more sensitive to environmental variability than previously recognized; that major demographic fluctuations will become the norm as baleen whales recover; and that climate-driven disruptions to whale population dynamics will be most dramatic in populations with the lowest rates of anthropogenic mortality.

Indexed as

Climate ChangeConservation of Natural ResourcesEnvironmentWhalesAnimalsEcosystemPopulation Dynamics

Identifiers

PMID40561014
PMCPMC12189943

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.