Life processes of Killer Whales: A Mathematical Approach - Abstract
As an apex predator in many marine ecosystems, Killer whales (KWs) are an important candidate for population dynamics studies. Anthropogenic activities like discharge of toxic
chemicals, mechanical disturbances created by ships, coastal urbanization etc. influence the health, behaviour and ecological dealings of these animal. This review paper attempts to analyse the mathematical models those capture interactions between KWs and various biotic plus abiotic factors. Population based Prey-predator models are the oldest tools used for evaluating the influence of KW predation on a single or multiple species of preys in a community. Often hydrophobic chemicals released in marine water are affecting KWs fatally hence a gamut of models has been proposed for estimating bioaccumulation of such chemicals. Similarly, whale watching is another detrimental activity that has been modelled by many research groups. However, due to their large size, multifaceted physiology, social behaviour, long span of life and wide migration field, each KW is quite distinct from the other. A straight forward model like average distribution coefficient of chemical species is often inadequate to predict levels of persistent chemicals in a population of KWs. Hence, agent based models are evolving on a continuous basis to study abiotic interactions like predicting changes in toxin levels temporally as well as spatially in the
animals. Beside these mathematical models, some frameworks to study the movement of the animal have been represented in this paper. Technological advancement of telemetry and availability of sophisticated mathematical tools like Fractal analysis is expanding the scope of studying movement related aspects of the KWs.