Recent reductions in thickness and extent have increased drift rates of Arctic sea ice. Increased ice drift could significantly affect the movements and the energy balance of polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) which forage, nearly exclusively, on this substrate. We used radio‐tracking and ice drift data to quantify the influence of increased drift on bear movements, and we modeled the consequences for energy demands of adult fema...

Niche‐based approaches to community analysis often involve estimating a matrix of pairwise interactions among species (the “community matrix”), but this task becomes infeasible using observational data as the number of modeled species increases. As an alternative, neutral theories achieve parsimony by assuming that species within a trophic level are exchangeable, but generally cannot incorporate stabilizing interactions even w...

Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) undertake one of the longest migrations of any animal and while on a broad‐scale this journey appears direct, on a fine‐scale, behaviors associated with socializing and breeding are regularly observed. However, little is known about which social and environmental factors influence behavior during this time. Here we examined the effect of multiple factors on the movement (speed and cou...

Habitat degradation not only disrupts habitat‐forming species, but alters the sensory landscape within which most species must balance behavioural activities against predation risk. Rapidly developing a cautious behavioural phenotype, a condition known as neophobia, is advantageous when entering a novel risky habitat. Many aquatic organisms rely on damage‐released conspecific cues (i.e. alarm cues) as an indicator of impending...

As part of their social sound repertoire, migrating humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) perform a large variety of surface‐active behaviors, such as breaching and repetitive slapping of the pectoral fins and tail flukes; however, little is known about what factors influence these behaviors and what their functions might be. We investigated the potential functions of surface‐active behaviors in humpback whale groups by e...