The habitat preferences of marine mammals west of Scotland (UK)
This study used classification and regression trees (CART) to investigate and compare the habitat preferences of marine mammals in this area. Data were collected in early summer (June/July) in 2004 and 2005 and the distribution of marine mammal species was compared to 10 ecogeographic variables (EGV...
Published in: | Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom |
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Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2007
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315407055270 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0025315407055270 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0025315407055270 2024-09-15T18:10:43+00:00 The habitat preferences of marine mammals west of Scotland (UK) MacLeod, Colin D. Weir, Caroline R. Pierpoint, Chris Harland, Edward J. 2007 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315407055270 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0025315407055270 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom volume 87, issue 1, page 157-164 ISSN 0025-3154 1469-7769 journal-article 2007 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0025315407055270 2024-08-07T04:04:08Z This study used classification and regression trees (CART) to investigate and compare the habitat preferences of marine mammals in this area. Data were collected in early summer (June/July) in 2004 and 2005 and the distribution of marine mammal species was compared to 10 ecogeographic variables (EGVs). Of 13 species of marine mammals sighted during the study, there were sufficient sightings to examine the habitat preferences of seven. For all species a measure of ‘shelf tendency’ (distance to coast or water depth) was an important variable and the species could be separated into two groups, the deep-water species and the shelf species, with little overlap between them. The occurrence of both deep-water species (long-finned pilot whales and Atlantic white-sided dolphins) was also related to dynamic variables such as sea surface temperature (SST) or primary productivity. Two of the shelf species (northern minke whales and grey seals) were only linked to topographic variables and were limited to quite specific habitats. A third species (harbour porpoise) was primarily related to topographic variables, but in the shallowest waters was also related to local variation in SST. The occurrence of the final two species (common and white-beaked dolphins) was linked to SST and local primary productivity. However, while both species preferentially occurred in areas with higher productivity, the two species differed in their preference for SST, with common dolphins preferentially occurring in warmer waters and white-beaked dolphins in colder waters. Article in Journal/Newspaper Harbour porpoise Cambridge University Press Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 87 1 157 164 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
This study used classification and regression trees (CART) to investigate and compare the habitat preferences of marine mammals in this area. Data were collected in early summer (June/July) in 2004 and 2005 and the distribution of marine mammal species was compared to 10 ecogeographic variables (EGVs). Of 13 species of marine mammals sighted during the study, there were sufficient sightings to examine the habitat preferences of seven. For all species a measure of ‘shelf tendency’ (distance to coast or water depth) was an important variable and the species could be separated into two groups, the deep-water species and the shelf species, with little overlap between them. The occurrence of both deep-water species (long-finned pilot whales and Atlantic white-sided dolphins) was also related to dynamic variables such as sea surface temperature (SST) or primary productivity. Two of the shelf species (northern minke whales and grey seals) were only linked to topographic variables and were limited to quite specific habitats. A third species (harbour porpoise) was primarily related to topographic variables, but in the shallowest waters was also related to local variation in SST. The occurrence of the final two species (common and white-beaked dolphins) was linked to SST and local primary productivity. However, while both species preferentially occurred in areas with higher productivity, the two species differed in their preference for SST, with common dolphins preferentially occurring in warmer waters and white-beaked dolphins in colder waters. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
MacLeod, Colin D. Weir, Caroline R. Pierpoint, Chris Harland, Edward J. |
spellingShingle |
MacLeod, Colin D. Weir, Caroline R. Pierpoint, Chris Harland, Edward J. The habitat preferences of marine mammals west of Scotland (UK) |
author_facet |
MacLeod, Colin D. Weir, Caroline R. Pierpoint, Chris Harland, Edward J. |
author_sort |
MacLeod, Colin D. |
title |
The habitat preferences of marine mammals west of Scotland (UK) |
title_short |
The habitat preferences of marine mammals west of Scotland (UK) |
title_full |
The habitat preferences of marine mammals west of Scotland (UK) |
title_fullStr |
The habitat preferences of marine mammals west of Scotland (UK) |
title_full_unstemmed |
The habitat preferences of marine mammals west of Scotland (UK) |
title_sort |
habitat preferences of marine mammals west of scotland (uk) |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0025315407055270 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0025315407055270 |
genre |
Harbour porpoise |
genre_facet |
Harbour porpoise |
op_source |
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom volume 87, issue 1, page 157-164 ISSN 0025-3154 1469-7769 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0025315407055270 |
container_title |
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom |
container_volume |
87 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
157 |
op_container_end_page |
164 |
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1810448302797225984 |