Acknowledgments We would like to thank Dr Jo Kershaw for paper recommendations and insightful comments. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for very helpful feedback on the manuscript that helped improve it.Peer reviewedPostprin

Derous, Davina

Kebke, Anna

Samarra, Filipa

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

English

Climate change directly impacts the foraging opportunities of cetaceans (e.g. lower prey availability), leads to habitat loss, and forces cetaceans to move to other feeding grounds. The rise in ocean temperature, low prey availability and loss of habitat can have severe consequences for cetacean survival, particularly those species that are already threatened or those with a limited habitat range. In addition, it is predicted that the concentration of contaminants in aquatic environments will increase owing to Arctic meltwater and increased rainfall events leading to higher rates of land-based runoff in downstream coastal areas. These persistent and mobile contaminants can bioaccumulate in the ecosystem, and lead to ecotoxicity with potentially severe consequences on the reproductive organs, immune system and metabolism of marine mammals. There is a need to measure and assess the cumulative impact of multiple stressors, given that climate change, habitat alteration, low prey availability and contaminants do not act in isolation. Human-caused perturbations to cetacean foraging abilities are becoming a pervasive and prevalent threat to many cetacean species on top of climate change-associated stressors. We need to move to a greater understanding of how multiple stressors impact the metabolism of cetaceans and ultimately their population trajectory

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Climate change and cetacean health: impacts and future directions

Acknowledgments We would like to thank Dr Jo Kershaw for paper recommendations and insightful comments. We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for very helpful feedback on the manuscript that helped improve it.Peer reviewe

Aberdeen University Research

Climate change and cetacean health : impacts and future directions

https://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/17470/1/Kebke_etal_PTRS_Climate_Change_And_AAM.pdf

Climate change and cetacean health : impacts and future directions

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Aberdeen University Research