ECOLOGY

ECOLOGICAL NICHE

Blue whales, along with the other great whales, play a key role in maintaining a healthy marine ecosystem. Due to the blue whales massive size, they produce immense amounts of nitrogen and iron-rich feces. Through their defecation, blue whales fertilize the microscopic phytoplankton, upon which all sea life depends.

Phytoplankton produces more than half the world’s oxygen, and further assists in mitigating climate change by capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This interaction between blue whales, phytoplankton, and the atmosphere is not only crucial to sustaining a thriving marine ecosystem, but to support a healthy planet.

CARBON CAPTURE

Blue whales accumulate roughly 33 tons of carbon in their bodies throughout their long lives. When they die, they sink to the bottom of the ocean, ultimately taking that carbon out of the atmosphere for centuries.

Blue whales support the base of the food chain, phytoplankton. Phytoplankton captures around 37 billion metric tons of carbon, which is an estimated 40 percent of all CO2 produced. More phytoplankton means more carbon capture.

All of the food nutrients gathered in the cold northern waters is stored and then released when blue whales migrate south to have their calves. As a K-selected species, blue whales migrate once a year, and via eutrophication, they release vast amounts of nutrients throughout the sea each time.

MARINE FOOD CHAIN

Blue whales generally spend summers feeding in polar waters and migrate towards equatorial waters during the winter; however, some evidence suggests that blue whales in certain areas might not migrate at all. Distribution is predominantly driven by food availability, and as the primary diet of blue whales is krill, they occur in waters where krill are highly concentrated.

Like many other large animals, blue whales are at the top of the food chain pyramid and depend upon billions of minute organisms to support their size. In the marine ecosystem, aquatic food webs interconnect energy producers like plants and phytoplankton, and consumers both big and small.

Figure 1. Marine Food Web. The MarineBio Conservation Society.

Each organism in a food chain fits within a specific trophic level, in which its position in the food chain or food web indicates its nutritional relationship to the primary sources of energy.

In Figure 1, the food web shows the interactions between organisms across trophic levels in the marine ecosystem. Arrows indicate the relationship between organisms that are consumed, to the organism that consumes it.

PRODUCERS & CONSUMERS

Blue-Green Algae

(Cyanobacteria)

Domain: Bacteria

Kingdom: Monera

Phylum: Cyanobacteria

Genus: Prochlorococcus

Class: Cyanophyceae

Diatoms

(Bacillariophyceae)

Domain: Eukaryota

Kingdom: Chromalveolata

Phylum: Heterokontophyta

Genus: Stigmaphora

Class: Bacillariophyceae

Moon Jellyfish

(Aurelia aurita)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Cnidaria

Class: Scyphozoa

Order: Semaeostomeae

Family: Ulmaridae

Genus: Aurelia

Antarctic Krill

(Euphausia superba)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Malacostraca

Order: Euphausiacea

Family: Euphausiidae

Genus: Euphausia

Ivory Gull

(Pagophila eburnea)

Conservation Status:

Near Threatened

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Charadriiformes

Family: Laridae

Genus: Pagophila

Giant Squid

(Architeuthis dux)

Conservation Status:

Least Concern

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Mollusca

Class: Cephalopoda

Order: Oegopsida

Family: Architeuthidae

Genus: Architeuthis

PREDATORS

Great White Shark

(Carcharodon carcharias)

Conservation Status:

Vulnerable

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Chondrichthyes

Order: Lamniformes

Family: Lamnidae

Genus: Carcharodon

Orca "Killer Whales"

(Orcinus orca)

Conservation Status:

Data Deficient

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Artiodactyla

Family: Delphinidae

Genus: Orcinus

Steller Sea Lion

(Eumetopias jubatus)

Conservation Status:

Near Threatened

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Carnivora

Family: Otariidae

Genus: Eumetopias

Sperm Whale

(Physeter macrocephalus)

Conservation Status:

Vulnerable

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Cetartiodactyla

Family: Physeteridae

Genus: Physeter

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