Whales play a crucial role in maintaining the health of marine ecosystems by transporting vital nutrients across vast ocean distances. A recent study published in Nature Communications highlights how whales act as a "conveyor belt," carrying nutrients from their feeding grounds in high-latitude areas like Alaska and Antarctica to low-nutrient tropical breeding grounds such as Hawaii and the Caribbean.
This process involves the longest known transport of nourishment by mammals on Earth. The nutrients, derived from whale urine, placentas, carcasses, and sloughed skin, fuel the growth of phytoplankton, tiny plants that absorb significant amounts of carbon and produce oxygen, forming the base of the marine food web.
Researchers found that whales introduce more nitrogen into these tropical areas than natural ocean processes. Migrating gray, humpback, and right whales transport an estimated 3,784 tons of nitrogen and 46,512 tons of biomass annually to these nutrient-poor regions, benefiting coral reef ecosystems.
This study, supported by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, underscores the importance of whale conservation, especially as populations recover from historical commercial whaling. Protecting whales is essential for the health and resilience of our oceans.