Influência das variações climáticas no comportamento da baleia-franca-austral - Eubalaena australis (Desmoulins, 1822): uma revisão bibliográfica

Abstract

Terrestrial and marine ecosystems have been constantly changing due to climate change. El Niño and La Niña cycles increasingly intensify these changes, reflecting in the behavior of various animals from the bottom to the top of the food chain, ex.: krill (Euphausia superba) and southern right whale (Eubalaena australis). The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of climatic anomalies on the southern right whale's behavior. The search for the articles used in this study was made in the Scopus database, searching for “Eubalaena australis” and “climate change”, in addition to searching for other titles within the obtained articles. Southern right whale and krill populations have declined significantly over the past few years while the sea surface temperature has increased. El Niño variations that occur in the Pacific Ocean are reflected in southern right whales after a 6 to 8 years lag. Studies indicate that the reproductive outcome of southern right whales is correlated with krill density and, in turn, is correlated with variations in sea surface temperature. Southern right whales are good bioindicators for their sensitivity to climatic variations, both for foraging adaptation and for high mortality rate.