Classifying and combining herd surface activities and individual dive profiles to identify summer behaviours of beluga ( Delphinapterus leucas ) from the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada
Studies of the behaviour of diving animals usually focus on either individual dives or surface group activities, but these complementary observations are seldom combined in the same study. We here study the summer (June–October) behaviour of St. Lawrence Estuary belugas (Delphinapterus leucas (Palla...
Published in: | Canadian Journal of Zoology |
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2018
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/cjz-2017-0015 2023-12-17T10:28:02+01:00 Classifying and combining herd surface activities and individual dive profiles to identify summer behaviours of beluga ( Delphinapterus leucas ) from the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada Lemieux Lefebvre, S. Lesage, V. Michaud, R. Humphries, M.M. 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2017-0015 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjz-2017-0015 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjz-2017-0015 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 96, issue 5, page 393-410 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2018 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2017-0015 2023-11-19T13:38:24Z Studies of the behaviour of diving animals usually focus on either individual dives or surface group activities, but these complementary observations are seldom combined in the same study. We here study the summer (June–October) behaviour of St. Lawrence Estuary belugas (Delphinapterus leucas (Pallas, 1776)) by combining fine-scale individual diving data from 27 time–depth–speed recorder deployments (conducted in 2002–2005) with surface activity data from 1413 focal herd follows (conducted in 1991–2012). We classified 6312 dives into seven dive types based on shape and swim speed. Dives were then combined into five bout types, including three pelagic, one benthic, and one near-surface. We classified surface activities of herds into six clusters, differentiated primarily by their associated movement patterns (milling or directional) and additionally by herd structure and dispersion and occurrence of acrobatic surface events. Finally, we used herd focal follows conducted while tracking an individual beluga to relate dive and bout types to surface activities. Results indicate that milling at the surface was more frequently related to benthic dives, potentially, associated with behaviours such as benthic foraging, resting, socializing, and care of young. Directional surface movements were more frequently associated with pelagic dives likely used during pelagic foraging, exploration, and travelling. Article in Journal/Newspaper Beluga Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) Canada Canadian Journal of Zoology 96 5 393 410 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Lemieux Lefebvre, S. Lesage, V. Michaud, R. Humphries, M.M. Classifying and combining herd surface activities and individual dive profiles to identify summer behaviours of beluga ( Delphinapterus leucas ) from the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada |
topic_facet |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Studies of the behaviour of diving animals usually focus on either individual dives or surface group activities, but these complementary observations are seldom combined in the same study. We here study the summer (June–October) behaviour of St. Lawrence Estuary belugas (Delphinapterus leucas (Pallas, 1776)) by combining fine-scale individual diving data from 27 time–depth–speed recorder deployments (conducted in 2002–2005) with surface activity data from 1413 focal herd follows (conducted in 1991–2012). We classified 6312 dives into seven dive types based on shape and swim speed. Dives were then combined into five bout types, including three pelagic, one benthic, and one near-surface. We classified surface activities of herds into six clusters, differentiated primarily by their associated movement patterns (milling or directional) and additionally by herd structure and dispersion and occurrence of acrobatic surface events. Finally, we used herd focal follows conducted while tracking an individual beluga to relate dive and bout types to surface activities. Results indicate that milling at the surface was more frequently related to benthic dives, potentially, associated with behaviours such as benthic foraging, resting, socializing, and care of young. Directional surface movements were more frequently associated with pelagic dives likely used during pelagic foraging, exploration, and travelling. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lemieux Lefebvre, S. Lesage, V. Michaud, R. Humphries, M.M. |
author_facet |
Lemieux Lefebvre, S. Lesage, V. Michaud, R. Humphries, M.M. |
author_sort |
Lemieux Lefebvre, S. |
title |
Classifying and combining herd surface activities and individual dive profiles to identify summer behaviours of beluga ( Delphinapterus leucas ) from the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada |
title_short |
Classifying and combining herd surface activities and individual dive profiles to identify summer behaviours of beluga ( Delphinapterus leucas ) from the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada |
title_full |
Classifying and combining herd surface activities and individual dive profiles to identify summer behaviours of beluga ( Delphinapterus leucas ) from the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Classifying and combining herd surface activities and individual dive profiles to identify summer behaviours of beluga ( Delphinapterus leucas ) from the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Classifying and combining herd surface activities and individual dive profiles to identify summer behaviours of beluga ( Delphinapterus leucas ) from the St. Lawrence Estuary, Canada |
title_sort |
classifying and combining herd surface activities and individual dive profiles to identify summer behaviours of beluga ( delphinapterus leucas ) from the st. lawrence estuary, canada |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2017-0015 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/cjz-2017-0015 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjz-2017-0015 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
Beluga Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas |
genre_facet |
Beluga Beluga* Delphinapterus leucas |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 96, issue 5, page 393-410 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/cjz-2017-0015 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
96 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
393 |
op_container_end_page |
410 |
_version_ |
1785580058769883136 |