title: Quantifying the energy stores of capital breeding humpback whales and income breeding sperm whales using historical whaling records.
abstract: Cetacean energy stores are known to vary according to life history, reproductive status and time of year; however, the opportunity to quantify these relationships is rare. Using a unique set of historical whaling records from Western Australia (1952-1963), we investigated energy stores of large cetaceans with differing life histories, and quantified the relationship between total body lipid and length for humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae)(n= 905) and sperm whales(Physeter macrocephalus)(n= 1961). We found that total body lipid increased with body length in both humpback and sperm whales, consistent with size-related energy stores. Male humpback whales stored 2.49 kl (15.6 barrels) (31.9-74.9%) more lipid than male sperm whales of equivalent length, to fuel their annual migration. Relative lipid stores of sperm whales (males) were constant throughout the year, while those of humpback whales varied with reproductive class and sampling date. Pregnant female humpback whales had higher relative energy stores than non-pregnant females and males (26.2% and 37.4%, respectively), to fuel the energy demands of gestation and lactation. Those that reached the sampling site later (en routeto their breeding grounds) carried higher lipid stores than those that arrived earlier, possibly reflecting individual variation in residency times in the Antarctic feeding grounds. Importantly, longer pregnant females had relatively larger energy stores than the shorter pregnant females, indicating that the smaller individuals may experience higher levels of energetic stress during the migration fast. The relationships we developed between body lipid and length can be used to inform bioenergetics and ecosystem models when such detailed information is not available.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies , University of Tasmania , Hobart, Tasmania , Australia.
authors.forename: Lyn G
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9389-5402
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Irvine
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre , University of Western Australia (M096) , Western Australia , Australia.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thums
authors.affiliation: BMT Oceanica , Wembley, Western Australia , Australia.
authors.forename: Christine E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Hanson
authors.affiliation: Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia; Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Clive R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: McMahon
authors.affiliation: Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies , University of Tasmania , Hobart, Tasmania , Australia.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hindell
keywords: bioenergetics; body condition; body lipid; cetacean; life history; oil yield