Against the backdrop of Southeast Alaska’s glacier-capped peaks, Dana Bloch leans over the side of a small boat and scoops up a clump of orange fecal matter floating in the ocean. “It’s my best sample yet,” she says, peering at the humpback whale poop in her net. “This one’s been feeding on krill instead of fish, so it’s pretty solid.”
Bloch is a fellow with the Alaska Whale Foundation and a graduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She’s also the first person to study how whale poop affects nutrients in the North Pacific Ocean.
The Significance of Whale Poop
What makes whale poop special? First, there’s a lot of it, since whales are the largest animals on Earth. Second, whales usually feed in deeper water and then poop when they surface to breathe; this cycles nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and iron — which naturally sink.
Third, their fecal plumes are buoyant, lingering in the sunny, uppermost layer of water. This means whale poop could help spur the growth of phytoplankton, tiny plants at the base of the marine food web.
