Resurgence of an apex marine predator and the decline in prey body size.

ABSTRACT: In light of recent recoveries of marine mammal populations worldwide and heightened concern about their impacts on marine food webs and global fisheries, it has become increasingly important to understand the potential impacts of large marine mammal predators on prey populations and their life-history traits. In coastal waters of the northeast Pacific Ocean, marine mammals have increased in abundance over the past 40 to 50 y, including fish-eating killer whales that feed primarily on Chinook salmon. Chinook salmon, a species of high cultural and economic value, have exhibited marked declines in average size and age throughout most of their North American range. This raises the question of whether size-selective predation by marine mammals is generating these trends in life-history characte

SUBMITTER: Ohlberger J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6936373 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature