A “nice whale conveyor belt”

Migrating whales sometimes gorge in summers at larger latitudes to construct up vitality reserves to make the lengthy migration to decrease latitudes. It is nonetheless unclear precisely why the whales migrate, but it surely’s possible that pregnant females particularly discover it extra helpful to present delivery and nurse their younger in heat, shallow, sheltered areas—maybe to guard their offspring from predators like killer whales. Hotter waters additionally preserve the whale calves heat as they regularly develop their insulating layers of blubber. Some scientists suppose that whales may also migrate to molt their pores and skin in those self same heat, shallow waters.

Roman et al. examined publicly accessible spatial information for whale feeding and breeding grounds, augmented with sightings from airplane and ship surveys to fill in gaps within the information, then fed that information into their fashions for calculating nutrient transport. They centered on six species recognized emigrate seasonally over lengthy distances from larger latitudes to decrease latitudes: blue whales, fin whales, grey whales, humpback whales, and North Atlantic and southern proper whales.

They discovered that whales can transport some 4,000 tons of nitrogen every year throughout their migrations, together with 45,000 tons of biomass—and people numbers may have been thrice bigger in earlier eras earlier than industrial whaling depleted populations. “We name it the ‘nice whale conveyor belt,’” Roman said. “It will also be considered a funnel, as a result of whales feed over giant areas, however they must be in a comparatively confined house to discover a mate, breed, and provides delivery. At first, the calves do not have the vitality to journey lengthy distances just like the mothers can.” The examine didn’t embrace any results from whales releasing feces or sloughing their pores and skin, which might additionally contribute to the general nutrient flux.

“Due to their measurement, whales are in a position to do issues that no different animal does. They’re residing life on a special scale,” said co-author Andrew Pershing, an oceanographer on the nonprofit group Local weather Central. “Vitamins are coming in from outdoors—and never from a river, however by these migrating animals. It’s super-cool, and adjustments how we take into consideration ecosystems within the ocean. We do not consider animals apart from people having an affect on a planetary scale, however the whales actually do.” 

DOI: Nature Communications, 2025. 10.1038/s41467-025-56123-2  (About DOIs).