Escalating competition in changing seas: baleen whales exploit killer whale prey herding.
5 affiliations
- 1Norwegian Orca Survey , Andenes, Norway.
- 2Department of Environmental Systems Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.
- 3Orcestra , Zurich, Switzerland.
- 4Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University , Stanford, CA, USA.
- 5IBF, CNR, Institute of Biophysics , Pisa, Italy.
Abstract
Climate change and other anthropogenic pressures are rapidly reshaping marine ecosystems, altering prey availability and predator interactions. Yet empirical evidence of how these relationships shift under changing conditions remains scarce. Drawing on over a decade of monitoring in a subarctic fjord system, we provide a rare insight into these dynamics. In northern Norway, the winter aggregation of herring (Clupea harengus) and their primary predator, the killer whale (Orcinus orca), has shifted northward under the combined influence of climate change and fishing pressure. This redistribution has brought baleen whales into the same foraging grounds, leading to direct interference competition. Humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) frequently intrude into killer whale carousel feeding events, exploiting dense, shallow prey patches optimized for lunge feeding. Such intrusions often end hunts prematurely, imposing energetic costs on killer whales. Meanwhile, the rapid growth of whale-watching tourism in these fjords further disrupts foraging activity. Integrating unpublished data and existing literature, this article highlights the asymmetric energetic costs and benefits arising from these emerging interactions; processes likely widespread, yet still largely undetected in other marine ecosystems. This article is part of the theme issue 'Multi-predator feeding aggregations in the pelagic'.
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BibTeX
@article{jourdain2026escalating,
title = {{Escalating competition in changing seas: baleen whales exploit killer whale prey herding.}},
author = {Eve Jourdain and Chérine Baumgartner and David Cade and Paolo Domenici},
journal = {Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1098/rstb.2025.0197},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42878042},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Escalating competition in changing seas: baleen whales exploit killer whale prey herding.
AU - Eve Jourdain
AU - Chérine Baumgartner
AU - David Cade
AU - Paolo Domenici
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences
DO - 10.1098/rstb.2025.0197
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42878042
AB - Climate change and other anthropogenic pressures are rapidly reshaping marine ecosystems, altering prey availability and predator interactions. Yet empirical evidence of how these relationships shift under changing conditions remains scarce. Drawing on over a decade of monitoring in a subarctic fjord system, we provide a rare insight into these dynamics. In northern Norway, the winter aggregation of herring (Clupea harengus) and their primary predator, the killer whale (Orcinus orca), has shifted northward under the combined influence of climate change and fishing pressure. This redistribution has brought baleen whales into the same foraging grounds, leading to direct interference competition. Humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) frequently intrude into killer whale carousel feeding events, exploiting dense, shallow prey patches optimized for lunge feeding. Such intrusions often end hunts prematurely, imposing energetic costs on killer whales. Meanwhile, the rapid growth of whale-watching tourism in these fjords further disrupts foraging activity. Integrating unpublished data and existing literature, this article highlights the asymmetric energetic costs and benefits arising from these emerging interactions; processes likely widespread, yet still largely undetected in other marine ecosystems. This article is part of the theme issue 'Multi-predator feeding aggregations in the pelagic'.
SN - 0962-8436
SN - 1471-2970
ER -