When sea meth melts in the summertime , beluga hulk that hang out in the Bering Sea during wintertime traverse up northward . This is typically when they consume really good , but mood alteration may be messing with their summertime fish buffets .
With the increased exit of sea ice and the switching in prey habit , beluga whales have been diving deeper and longer , according to apaperpublished in Diversity and Distributions earlier this calendar month . research worker with the University of Washington came to that conclusion by get over two beluga populations from July to October over two extensive periods : from 1993 - 2002 , and from 2004 - 2012 .
Between 2007 and 2012 , in particular , the squad notice that whale dives became dramatically longer and deeper . In early years , a 20 - minute or longer dive would occur just once a day , but during this later time period , those same nosedive happened nearly three times a daylight . The depth to which beluga whales were diving increased over sentence , too .
The paper could n’t conclude whether these change were help or hurt belugas , but research worker do theorise that the variety in the sea as the Arctic warms are go to more chance to find fair game , more prey hiding deeply , or a combination of the two .
“ Reduced sea icing cover over a longsighted period of clock time over the summer could mean improved forage for hausen , ” allege lead author Donna Hauser , a investigator at the university ’s Polar Science Center , in a press release . “ But it ’s also important to recognize these modification in diving demeanour are energetically costly . ”
Overall , the majestic tool fare pretty well during both meter period . For the most part , they returned to the same areas even if those areas were cut through by less ice . Beluga whales might be one of the animals that actually endure the major ecological shifts mood change is causing . After all , they ’re adaptable and resilient , said Hauser .
“ Belugas feed on a lot of unlike prey and use many dissimilar habitats , across open water and dense sea trash and everything in between , ” Hauser said , in the release . “ Because they are such generalists , that could cushion them under climate change . ”
That ’s not on the button unfeigned for other creatures who harp on this sea ice — like opposite bears . A expiration of sea ice ismaking it hard for bears to hunting , which can create bubble force throughout the ecosystem . Studies call for to take a closer looking at at these effects to have a total picture of the Arctic ’s future .
arctic sea iceClimate changeSciencewhales
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