- Title Pages
- [UNTITLED]
- List of Contributors
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- Preface
-
One Introduction -
Two Whales, Interaction Webs, and Zero-Sum Ecology -
Three Lessons from Land Present and Past Signs of Ecological Decay and the Overture to Earth’s Sixth Mass Extinctio -
Four When Ecological Pyramids Were Upside Down -
Five Pelagic Ecosystem Response to a Century of Commercial Fishing and Whaling -
Six Evidence for Bottom-Up Control of Upper-Trophic-Level Marine Populations -
Seven Evolutionary Patterns in Cetacea Fishing Up Prey Size through Deep Time -
Eight A Taxonomy of World Whaling -
Nine The History of Whales Read from DNA -
Ten Changes in Marine Mammal Biomass in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands Region before and after the Period of Commercial Whaling -
Eleven Industrial Whaling in the North Pacific Ocean 1952–1978 -
Twelve Worldwide Distribution and Abundance of Killer Whales -
Thirteen The Natural History and Ecology of Killer Whales -
Fourteen Killer Whales as Predators of Large Baleen Whales and Sperm Whales -
Fifteen Physiological and Ecological Consequences of Extreme Body Size in Whales -
Sixteen Ecosystem Impact of the Decline of Large Whales in the North Pacific -
Seventeen The Removal of Large Whales from the Southern Ocean -
Eighteen Great Whales as Prey Using Demography and Bioenergetics to Infer Interactions in Marine Mammal Communities -
Nineteen Whales and Whaling in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea Oceanographic Insights and Ecosystem Impacts -
Twenty Legacy of Industrial Whaling -
Twenty-One Predator Diet Breadth and Prey Population Dynamics -
Twenty-Two Bigger is Better -
TWENTY-THREE Gray Whales in the Bering and Chukchi Seas -
Twenty-Four Whales, Whaling, and Ecosystems in the North Atlantic Ocean -
Twenty-Five Sperm Whales in Ocean Ecosystems -
Twe Nty-Six Ecosystem Effects of Fishing and Whaling in the North Pacific and Atlantic Oceans -
Twenty-Seven Potential Influences of Whaling on the Status and Trends of Pinniped Populations -
Twenty-Eight The Dynamic Between Social Systems and Ocean Ecosystems -
Twenty-Nine Whaling, Law, and Culture -
Thirty Whales Are Big and It Matters -
Thirty-One Retrospection and Review - Index
Bigger is Better
Bigger is Better
The Role of Whales as Detritus in Marine Ecosystems
- Chapter:
- (p.286) Twenty-Two Bigger is Better
- Source:
- Whales, Whaling, and Ocean Ecosystems
- Author(s):
CRAIG R. SMITH
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
This chapter discusses current ecosystem responses to the input of whale detritus. It then estimates the effects of industrial whaling on the production of dead whales and speculates on the consequences of these changes for marine ecosystems. Finally, it proposes an experimental approach to test some of these speculations. Whale carcasses are end members in the spectrum of marine detritus, constituting the largest, most energy-rich organic particles in the ocean. Most great-whale carcasses sink essentially intact to the deep-sea floor, where they are recycled by a succession of scavenger, enrichment-opportunist, and sulfophilic assemblages. Although the flux of organic carbon in whale falls is small compared to total detrital flux, the massive energy concentrated in a whale fall can support a diverse deep-sea community.
Keywords: whale detritus, industrial whaling, marine ecosystems, marine detritus, whale carcass
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- Title Pages
- [UNTITLED]
- List of Contributors
- List of Tables
- List of Figures
- Preface
-
One Introduction -
Two Whales, Interaction Webs, and Zero-Sum Ecology -
Three Lessons from Land Present and Past Signs of Ecological Decay and the Overture to Earth’s Sixth Mass Extinctio -
Four When Ecological Pyramids Were Upside Down -
Five Pelagic Ecosystem Response to a Century of Commercial Fishing and Whaling -
Six Evidence for Bottom-Up Control of Upper-Trophic-Level Marine Populations -
Seven Evolutionary Patterns in Cetacea Fishing Up Prey Size through Deep Time -
Eight A Taxonomy of World Whaling -
Nine The History of Whales Read from DNA -
Ten Changes in Marine Mammal Biomass in the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands Region before and after the Period of Commercial Whaling -
Eleven Industrial Whaling in the North Pacific Ocean 1952–1978 -
Twelve Worldwide Distribution and Abundance of Killer Whales -
Thirteen The Natural History and Ecology of Killer Whales -
Fourteen Killer Whales as Predators of Large Baleen Whales and Sperm Whales -
Fifteen Physiological and Ecological Consequences of Extreme Body Size in Whales -
Sixteen Ecosystem Impact of the Decline of Large Whales in the North Pacific -
Seventeen The Removal of Large Whales from the Southern Ocean -
Eighteen Great Whales as Prey Using Demography and Bioenergetics to Infer Interactions in Marine Mammal Communities -
Nineteen Whales and Whaling in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea Oceanographic Insights and Ecosystem Impacts -
Twenty Legacy of Industrial Whaling -
Twenty-One Predator Diet Breadth and Prey Population Dynamics -
Twenty-Two Bigger is Better -
TWENTY-THREE Gray Whales in the Bering and Chukchi Seas -
Twenty-Four Whales, Whaling, and Ecosystems in the North Atlantic Ocean -
Twenty-Five Sperm Whales in Ocean Ecosystems -
Twe Nty-Six Ecosystem Effects of Fishing and Whaling in the North Pacific and Atlantic Oceans -
Twenty-Seven Potential Influences of Whaling on the Status and Trends of Pinniped Populations -
Twenty-Eight The Dynamic Between Social Systems and Ocean Ecosystems -
Twenty-Nine Whaling, Law, and Culture -
Thirty Whales Are Big and It Matters -
Thirty-One Retrospection and Review - Index
