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  • Prey species and stock specific consumption estimates for SRKW in their summer range

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Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC) Conservation Biology CB - Ecosystem Science

Information

Project
SRKW Summer Prey Needs
Title
Prey species and stock specific consumption estimates for SRKW in their summer range
Description
Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) are listed as a Distinct Population Segment under the Endangered Species Act. Data concerning their prey species and stock specific consumption estimates for SRKW in their summer range is important to understand trophic effects influencing their distribution and abundance. Estimates of these parameters allow prediction of population level responses to prey abundance and seasonality.

Data Sets

no data found

Research Themes

Recovery and rebuilding of marine and coastal species
The Pacific Northwest is home to several iconic endangered species, including Pacific salmon and killer whales, and several rockfish species. Mandates such as the Endangered Species Act, MagnusonStevens Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act, grant NOAA Fisheries the authority to manage the recovery of depleted species and stocks. The NWFSC contributes to species recovery through research, monitoring and analysis, providing NOAA managers and regional stakeholders the tools and information they need to craft effective regulations and develop sustainable plans for recovery.

Research Foci

Develop methods to use physiological, biological and behavioral information to predict population-level processes
Understanding the biological processes occurring within organisms is a powerful way of understanding how environmental changes affect those organisms. Genetics, developmental, physiological and behavioral studies all provide important information for effective species recovery and rebuilding. Integrating this information into models is vital to predict how populations will respond to natural or human perturbations, and to assess the constraints to stock rebuilding efforts. For example, data on thermal tolerance and physiological responses to temperature can be used to explore changes caused by shifts in climate on reproductive behavior and productivity, viability, movement, habitat selection, and population dynamics. Similarly, data on contaminants that impact physiological processes (immune system, growth, development, reproduction, and general health) are critical in determining how these compounds affect population dynamics. Data on biological responses of organisms to ocean acidification are useful for understanding how acidification may affect individual development and survival. The NWFSC collects such information for several species that are of concern, targets of fisheries or otherwise important for overall ecosystem function. NWFSC scientists will continue to expand current efforts and develop methods to incorporate physiological, biological and behavioral data into population models in order to predict population-level processes from these individual level data.

Keywords

food web
complex of interrelated food chains in an ecological community
population status assessment
methods to improve information on population status
southern resident killer whale
DPS that this study is focused on

Products

None associated

Taxa

Species Orcinus orca
grampus, killer whale, killer-trasher, orca

People

Brad Hanson
Principal Investigator