Whale migration delay due to Arctic sea ice loss, says study

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New Delhi: A new study has said that whale migration delay is happening due to sea ice changes in the Arctic.

Researchers from University of Washington (UW) finds that as Arctic sea ice takes longer to freeze up each fall due to climate change, a population of belugas mirrors that timing and delays its migration south by up to one month.

In contrast, a different beluga population, also in Alaska, that migrates and feeds in the same areas does not appear to have changed its migration timing with changes in sea ice, researchers said.

"The biggest take-home message is that belugas can respond relatively quickly to their changing environment, yet we can not expect a uniform response across all beluga populations," said lead author Donna Hauser, from UW.

"If we are trying to understand how these species are going to respond to climate change, we should expect to see variability in the response across populations and across time. That may complicate our predictions for the future," Hauser said.

(With PTI inputs)