Population-specific sex and size variation in long-term foraging ecology of belugas and narwhals.

ABSTRACT: Intraspecific variation in resource use by individuals of different age, sex or size may reflect differing energetic requirements and physiological constraints. Males and females often show differences in diet owing to sexual size dimorphism, different life histories and/or habitat use. Here, we investigate how sex and size influence the long-term foraging ecology of belugas and narwhals in Greenland, using stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen from bone collagen. We show that males have a higher trophic level and a larger ecological niche than females in West Greenland belugas and in East Greenland narwhals. In addition, for these two populations, we find that δ ¹⁵N increases with size, particularly in males. We hypothesize that sexual size dimorphism together with stro

SUBMITTER: Louis M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8074634 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature