Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 14 September 1984:
Vol. 225. no. 4667, pp. 1150 - 1152
DOI: 10.1126/science.225.4667.1150
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Side-Scan Sonar Assessment of Gray Whale Feeding in the Bering Sea

KIRK R. JOHNSON 1 and C. HANS NELSON 2

1 Department of Geology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104
2 Branch of Pacific Marine Geology MS999, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California 94025

Side-scan sonar was used to map and measure feeding pits of the California gray whale over 22,000 square kilometers of the northeastern Bering Sea floor. The distribution of pits, feeding whales, ampeliscid amphipods (whale prey), and a fine-sand substrate bearing the amphipods were all closely correlated. The central Chirikov Basin and nearshore areas of Saint Lawrence Island supply at least 6.5 percent of the total gray whale food resource in summer. While feeding, the whales resuspend at least 1.2 x 108 cubic meters of sediment annually; this significantly affects the geology and biology of the region.

Submitted on February 28, 1984
Accepted on May 31, 1984


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
DNA evidence for historic population size and past ecosystem impacts of gray whales.
S. E. Alter, E. Rynes, and S. R. Palumbi (2007)
PNAS 104, 15162-15167
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Cetaceans.
B Wursig (1989)
Science 244, 1550-1557
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)