Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, Nuuk, Greenland.
Biol Lett. 2012 Apr 23;8(2):270-3. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0731. Epub 2011 Sep 21.
The loss of Arctic sea ice is predicted to open up the Northwest Passage, shortening shipping routes and facilitating the exchange of marine organisms between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. Here, we present the first observations of distribution overlap of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) from the two oceans in the Northwest Passage, demonstrating this route is already connecting whales from two populations that have been assumed to be separated by sea ice. Previous satellite tracking has demonstrated that bowhead whales from West Greenland and Alaska enter the ice-infested channels of the Canadian High Arctic during summer. In August 2010, two bowhead whales from West Greenland and Alaska entered the Northwest Passage from opposite directions and spent approximately 10 days in the same area, documenting overlap between the two populations.
北极海冰的消融预计将开辟西北航道，缩短航运路线，并促进大西洋和太平洋之间海洋生物的交换。在这里，我们首次观察到西北航道中来自两个大洋的弓头鲸（Balaena mysticetus）的分布重叠，证明这条航线已经将原本被海冰隔开的两个种群的鲸鱼连接起来。先前的卫星跟踪研究表明，来自格陵兰岛西部和阿拉斯加的弓头鲸在夏季会进入加拿大北极高海域布满浮冰的海峡。2010 年 8 月，两只来自格陵兰岛西部和阿拉斯加的弓头鲸从相反的方向进入西北航道，并在同一地区停留了大约 10 天，记录了两个种群的重叠情况。
