The impact of temperature at depth on estimates of thermal habitat for short‐finned pilot whales

Abstract

Short‐finned pilot whales ( Globicephala macrorhynchus ) experience dramatic changes in temperature during deep dives, but studies of pilot whale habitat use typically rely solely on surface temperature measurements. We quantified vertically integrated thermal habitat for short‐finned pilot whales using a novel metric, degree‐hours, developed using data from digital acoustic recording tags (DTAGs) deployed off Cape Hatteras along with interpolated temperature profiles at depth from the Met Office Hadley Centre EN4 oceanographic data set. We then compared estimates of thermal habitat calculated from surface waters with estimates of vertically integrated thermal habitat calculated using EN4 data collected along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. to understand how available thermal habitat is influenced by seasonal and spatial variability in water temperature. Estimates of vertically integrated thermal habitat were typically lower than estimates produced using surface temperatures, and the difference was greatest at intermediate latitudes and in warmer seasons, where and when there is a high degree of variability between surface and bottom temperatures. Our work highlights the importance of considering temperature at depth to accurately assess the thermal habitat of deep‐diving marine vertebrates, and presents a means of quantifying thermal habitat that will be useful for understanding the thermal ranges of these species.

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