Canada’s Oceans Now: Arctic Ecosystems 2023 - Diving in: learning about marine mammal habitat use

Diving in: learning about marine mammal habitat use
Beluga and bowhead whales change their movements in response to different habitat conditions. They use different dive patterns to search for different types of food. This flexibility means they can respond to changes in their habitats and the types of food that are available.

The top half of the infographic highlights belugas of the Eastern Beaufort Sea population. Explanatory text at the top states:

• Belugas dive to feed, rest, move from place to place, and navigate through sea ice. They use many different patterns of dives depending on what they are doing.

An illustration below the test shows these dive patterns as a yellow line on a vertical cross-section of the water, with belugas following along the line. The left side shows the dives during winter, which follow a short V-shaped zigzag pattern as the beluga goes sharply up and down. Shrimp and octopi can be seen at the bottom of these dives. A text box at the bottom states:

• Winter: Shallow dives use less energy and access different food like shrimp and octopus

The right side shows the dives during the summer, which follow an up and down square-shaped pattern with more prolonged periods at the surface and the bottom. Schools of fish can be seen at the bottom of these dives and circles show a dark blue halibut and several Arctic cod. A text box at the bottom states:

• Summer: deeper and longer dives require more energy but target high-quality food like Arctic cod.

The bottom half of the infographic highlights the bowhead whales of the Eastern Canada-West Greenland population. Explanatory text at the top states:

• Bowhead whales dive mostly to feed. They use V-shaped dives to search for food. They use either shallow, U-shaped dives or deep, square dives to target their prey and eat.

An illustration below the test shows these dive patterns as a yellow line on a vertical cross-section of the water, with bowhead whales following along the line. The left side shows the dives during winter; the first dive is V-shaped and shows a whale at the bottom echolocating to find food, the second dive is a deeper square-shaped dive with a whale at the bottom feeding on a cloud of copepod zooplankton. Text at the bottom states:

• Winter: deeper dives to feed on copepods that migrated to deep water.

The right side shows the dives during the summer; these are all shallow u-shaped dives with whales at the bottom feeding on clouds of zooplankton. Text at the bottom states:

• Summer: shallow dives to feed on different zooplankton near the ocean surface.

To the right, a map of the eastern Canadian Arctic shows some islands of the Canadian Archipelago highlighted in purple, and a region of Baffin Bay highlighted in orange. These two areas represent different habitats used by the same population of bowheads. Text at the top states:

• bowhead whales change their dives to adapt to different habitats and locations

Below the map, a purple box (Canadian Archipelago) and an orange box (West Baffin Bay) provide further information on diving behaviors within the specific areas.

• Canadian Archipelago:
  • Move long distances
  • Use shallower dives
  • Make more dives in summer and fall
  • Feed on a mixture of zooplankton
• West Baffin Bay:
  • Stay near one area
  • Use deeper dives
  • Make the same number of dives in all seasons
  • Feed mostly on fat-rich copepods