Table 2. Parameters and sources used to estimate carrying capacities for gray whales in the North Pacific Ocean during the last 120 ka.

Assumptions	Prey biomass requirement	Feeding window	Prey density	Ratio food patch to area	Carrying Capacity
Data Source	Alter et al. [15]	Johnson and Nelson [47]	Nerini [26]	Nerini [26]	Rugh et al. [33]
Unconstrained	366 kg individual−1 day−1	180 days	161 g/m2	0.03722	—
Alternative Bering SeaCarrying Capacity	366 kg individual−1 day−1	180 days	161 g/m2	0.0104	22,000

To limit carrying capacity, the ratio of food patch size to area was reduced to support only 22 k gray whales based on the current eastern Pacific population size [33].