Whale Waste Improves Ocean Ecosystems

Published October 14, 2025

An illustration of the interactions between whales, krill, and phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean under (A) pre-whaling and (B) post-whaling conditions.

Whales don’t just eat krill; they help fuel the ocean by releasing a form of iron that the plants of the sea (phytoplankton) can use. They also release copper in a form that is less toxic for phytoplankton. Increases in whaling have led to a decrease in the recycling of essential metals.

What is the finding

When whales poop, they release iron and copper into the ocean. Phytoplankton, the plants of the sea, need iron to grow and they are able to use the iron from whale poop. However, copper is toxic when there is too much available, but it is released by whales in a form that is less toxic.

Why is this important?

Phytoplankton are the foundation of the oceanic food web and are responsible for almost half of the oxygen in the atmosphere. Access to nutrients (like iron) and protection from toxic elements (like copper) have large impacts on their ability to grow and photosynthesize (take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release oxygen), which has implications for the climate. The loss of millions of whales to industrial whaling may disrupt this cycle, changing how these elements move through the ocean.

Who did the research?

P. J. Monreal¹, M. S. Savoca², L. Babcock-Adams³, L. E. Moore¹, A. Ruacho¹, D. Hull¹, L. J. Pallin⁴, R. C. Nichols⁴, J. Calambokidis⁵, J. A. Resing^1,6, A. S. Friedlaender⁴, J. Goldbogen², R. M. Bundy¹

¹University of Washington; ²Stanford University; ³National MagLab; ⁴University of California Santa Cruz; ⁵Cascadia Research Collective; ⁶Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory

Why did they need the MagLab?

The MagLab is home to the 21 tesla Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometer, the world’s most powerful mass spectrometer, which can see molecules at a level of detail no other mass spectrometer can. This instrument was required for this work because seawater is a very complex mixture, containing tens of thousands of different chemicals that need to be resolved from one another and identified. With the mass accuracy achievable at 21 tesla, we can determine which elements (like copper and iron) and how many are in each molecule just by weighing them.