A Brief Review Of Pacific Killer Whales
There is growing awareness of the effect of large-scale climate change on ecological systems in mammal populations (Ottersen et al. 2001; Stenseth et al. 2002), but the biological mechanisms are often uncertain (Stenseth et al. 2003). The impacts of climate change on Killer whales can be difficult to understand because they involve a number of relationships that may be anti-trivial and non-linear. There may also be crashes in response to climate (Hallett al. 2004) which, paired with non-linear migration patterns, made it difficult to identify these complex connections. Studies of the impact of climate change on behavior can provide important clues into the causal connection between wide-scale systems and migration patterns (Sutherland & Norris 2002). But, it may be difficult to quantify constructive behavioral data sets. Killer whales near Canada, diversified year by year in regards to large variations of ocean climate change. Regional prey abundant supply graphs were also related to both climate change and predator community sizes. Many concentration-independent factors related to cluster trends in Killer whales, in specific the tolerance and difficulty of the habitat where they reside (Shane et al. 1986; Gerard & Loisel 1995; Gerard et al. 2002.) These models provide a groundbreaking method for exploring the reactions of biological species to global warming and climate change.
Literature Review
Prior analogies of fish and mammal eating killer whales have led to ideas that prey size affects grouping patterns (Baird & Dill 1996) and may be accountable for the variations in the social structure of the two sympatric killer whales. Killer whales feed on large prey captured at a time, tend to live in smaller groups that maximize energy gained from energy expended on each individual. A data model of the probable effects of climate change on Killer whales and Arctic sea mammals constructed on the basis of sea ice gain or loss (Fig 1). Killer whales, Humpback whales, Gray whales and Fin whales are considered to be Seasonally migrant species. Killer whales are likely to gain from net losses in sea ice due to increased access to the pelagic-dominated environment. Throughout all cases, declines in sea ice will provide less secure human hunting networks while increasing access to the Arctic for human commercial operations (Bluhm and Gradinger 2008; Hovelsrud et al. 2008).
Data model of sea ice impacts on ice-binding, ice-binding and seasonal migratory marine mammal species: beneficial effects are indicated by balanced plus signs; negative effects by balanced minus signs. Dashed lines imply instability as to the potential effects of sea ice gain or losses on ice-associated species Predicted improvements in benthic and pelagic group efficiency are presented in Bluhm and Gradinger (2008); the expected changes in human subsistence and commercial activities are presented in Hovelsrud et al. (2008).
Even though killer whales usually migrate in the Greenland-Iceland-Norwegian (GIN) Seas (Øien 1988) and are frequently witnessed near Barrow, Alaska, in the summer they are usually considered to have restricted affiliation with sea ice (Born 2000). As apex predators, killer whales can follow either fish or vertebrate prey that travel north into Arctic waters, with a decrease in sea ice. The foraging ecology of killer whales in the North Pacific and the Alaskan Seas is a field of ongoing investigation ( Herman et al. 2005); Due to the controversy on their task in the framing of marine populations ( Williams et al. 2004, DeMaster et al. 2006, Wade et al. 2007). The unraveling narrative in the North Pacific is among a single acknowledged species that involves biological differences at the 'species' stage, corresponding to three killer whale ecotypes that exhibit strong behavioral and dietary expertise (Ford et al. 2000). Recent warming in the Arctic has not been consistent, with several reviews defining the regional nature of temperature trends, climate change, and the loss of sea ice (Walsh 2008). Based on models of marine ice loss by 2050 and existing variation in bio-oceanographic features
Perceptual scales relevant to marine mammal communities, are divided into four regions While the ice-free duration is expected to increase by as much as 125 days in parts of the highly skilled inflow systems governed by the Chukchi and Greenland-Iceland-Norwegian (GIN) sectors, the latter is expected to retain the sea ice refuge in 2050.
Four regions of the Arctic for which stability situations are provided for ice-binding, ice-binding and seasonal migratory species. Refer to the continental shelf dynamics mentioned in (Carmack et al. 2006). The abbreviation GIN stands for the Greenland-Iceland-Norwegian Seas.
Stability situations for ice-binding, ice-binding and seasonal migratory marine mammals were developed by delegating either a negative (−) or a positive (+) score to the expected changes in sea ice and oceanography in each of the four Arctic areas
These stability scenarios are only a coarse overview of the future impact of climate change on Killer whales. By this time, specifics of ecology, Such as calculations of mammal numbers, and also general health status , are insufficient to allow for a more comprehensive evaluation of certain communities.
