Understanding the ecology of an organism is fundamental for defining conservation and management priorities for wildlife and natural ecosystems. The most basic ecological framework identifies the key components of an organism's habitat, and the scale for measuring the quality of those features. How these core needs are expressed and vary in the surrounding ecosystem changes over time and space. In marine systems, the physical environment has few strict boundaries, and variations regularly occur on a scale from days to decades. The dynamic and patchy nature of marine habitat makes defining the ecological roles of an animal difficult, even where baseline data exists. In this study I analyze long term field records on the ecological interactions between foraging gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus), and their mysid prey (Family mysidae) in Clayoquot Sound, B.C. By looking at spatial and temporal shifts at both trophic levels, I measure foraging responses and requirements, and assess prey resource availability and resiliency in the marine environment at a series of scales. Appreciation for bottom-up and topdown trophic interactions provides the foundation for identifying natural variability in marine habitat, and a baseline for conservation measures that seek to use marine predators as a barometer of broader ecosystem health.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/2389 |
| Date | 24 March 2010 |
| Creators | Feyrer, Laura Joan |
| Contributors | Duffus, David Allan |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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