30 September 2026: A new study assessing the distribution of EGSB bowhead whales under climate change
A study by Nowak and colleagues, titled “Endangered bowhead whales might buffer climate change with individual variability in movement patterns”, was published in the journal Scientific Reports in January 2026.
The bowhead whale is a species endemic to the Arctic (they don’t inhabit any other region in the world). There are four populations, two of which, the Sea of Okhotsk and the East Greenland-Svalbard-Barents Sea (EGSB) populations, are currently endangered. The EGSB population is estimated to number only a few hundred, and there is still very little knowledge about their ecology. With climate change forcing rapid changes to Arctic ecosystems, it’s crucial to understand how vulnerable they are to this threat.
Nowak and colleagues assessed the distribution of the EGSB population and analysed how multiple environmental variables influence their distribution. The authors tagged 38 bowhead whales with data transmitters to monitor their movements. Then, they used statistical programmes to assess the influence of environmental conditions on movement patterns of the tagged individuals.
The results show that low sea surface temperature and sea ice cover strongly influence habitat choice and foraging behaviour for the EGSB bowhead whales, meaning they are vulnerable to global warming and may see habitat reductions. However, the tagged whales showed considerable differences in their movement and foraging strategies. The individual variability shown by these whales may be aimed at partitioning food and foraging habitats, whose availability is being increasingly affected by climate change. Such adaptation could help EGSB bowhead whales in buffering the negative effects of climate change.
Nevertheless, the authors point out the importance of further research on the resilience of EGSB bowhead whales to climate change to perform proper management and conservation that can help the population recover.
You can read the full paper by Nowak et al here: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36908-1
Photo credit: Olga Shpa