Drones reveal spatial patterning of sympatric Alaskan pinniped species and drivers of their local distributions
The Arctic and its adjacent ecosystems are undergoing rapid ecological reorganization in response to the effects of global climate change, and sentinel species provide critical updates as these changes unfold. This study leverages emerging remote sensing techniques to reveal fine-scale drivers of di...
Published in: | Drone Systems and Applications |
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Language: | English |
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Canadian Science Publishing
2022
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/dsa-2021-0050 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/dsa-2021-0050 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/dsa-2021-0050 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/dsa-2021-0050 2023-12-17T10:26:16+01:00 Drones reveal spatial patterning of sympatric Alaskan pinniped species and drivers of their local distributions Larsen, Gregory D. Seymour, Alexander C. Richmond, Erin L. Divine, Lauren M. Moreland, Erin E. Newton, Everette London, Josh M. Johnston, David W. 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/dsa-2021-0050 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/dsa-2021-0050 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/dsa-2021-0050 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Drone Systems and Applications volume 10, issue 1, page 235-255 ISSN 2564-4939 2564-4939 journal-article 2022 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/dsa-2021-0050 2023-11-19T13:38:13Z The Arctic and its adjacent ecosystems are undergoing rapid ecological reorganization in response to the effects of global climate change, and sentinel species provide critical updates as these changes unfold. This study leverages emerging remote sensing techniques to reveal fine-scale drivers of distribution and terrestrial habitat use of two sympatric sentinel species of the central Bering Sea, the Pacific harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardii (Gray, 1864)) and the northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus (Linnaeus, 1758)), at non-breeding haul-outs in the Pribilof Islands. We surveyed these species using unoccupied aircraft systems with thermal and visible-light photography, and we applied distributional modeling techniques to quantify the relative influence of habitat characteristics and social dynamics on the local distributions of these species. Drone imagery yielded locations and population counts of each species, and spatial data products allowed quantitative characterization of occupied sites, revealing that conspecific attraction is a driver of local site selection for both species, and Pacific harbor seals and northern fur seals are differentially limited by terrain characteristics. These findings represent new applications of species distribution modeling at local scales, made possible by ultra-high resolution drone surveillance and photogrammetric techniques, which add new spatial context to past observations and future scenarios in this changing ecosystem. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Bering Sea Climate change harbor seal Phoca vitulina Callorhinus ursinus Northern fur seal Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) Arctic Bering Sea Pacific Drone Systems and Applications |
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Open Polar |
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Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) |
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crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
The Arctic and its adjacent ecosystems are undergoing rapid ecological reorganization in response to the effects of global climate change, and sentinel species provide critical updates as these changes unfold. This study leverages emerging remote sensing techniques to reveal fine-scale drivers of distribution and terrestrial habitat use of two sympatric sentinel species of the central Bering Sea, the Pacific harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardii (Gray, 1864)) and the northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus (Linnaeus, 1758)), at non-breeding haul-outs in the Pribilof Islands. We surveyed these species using unoccupied aircraft systems with thermal and visible-light photography, and we applied distributional modeling techniques to quantify the relative influence of habitat characteristics and social dynamics on the local distributions of these species. Drone imagery yielded locations and population counts of each species, and spatial data products allowed quantitative characterization of occupied sites, revealing that conspecific attraction is a driver of local site selection for both species, and Pacific harbor seals and northern fur seals are differentially limited by terrain characteristics. These findings represent new applications of species distribution modeling at local scales, made possible by ultra-high resolution drone surveillance and photogrammetric techniques, which add new spatial context to past observations and future scenarios in this changing ecosystem. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Larsen, Gregory D. Seymour, Alexander C. Richmond, Erin L. Divine, Lauren M. Moreland, Erin E. Newton, Everette London, Josh M. Johnston, David W. |
spellingShingle |
Larsen, Gregory D. Seymour, Alexander C. Richmond, Erin L. Divine, Lauren M. Moreland, Erin E. Newton, Everette London, Josh M. Johnston, David W. Drones reveal spatial patterning of sympatric Alaskan pinniped species and drivers of their local distributions |
author_facet |
Larsen, Gregory D. Seymour, Alexander C. Richmond, Erin L. Divine, Lauren M. Moreland, Erin E. Newton, Everette London, Josh M. Johnston, David W. |
author_sort |
Larsen, Gregory D. |
title |
Drones reveal spatial patterning of sympatric Alaskan pinniped species and drivers of their local distributions |
title_short |
Drones reveal spatial patterning of sympatric Alaskan pinniped species and drivers of their local distributions |
title_full |
Drones reveal spatial patterning of sympatric Alaskan pinniped species and drivers of their local distributions |
title_fullStr |
Drones reveal spatial patterning of sympatric Alaskan pinniped species and drivers of their local distributions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Drones reveal spatial patterning of sympatric Alaskan pinniped species and drivers of their local distributions |
title_sort |
drones reveal spatial patterning of sympatric alaskan pinniped species and drivers of their local distributions |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/dsa-2021-0050 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/dsa-2021-0050 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/dsa-2021-0050 |
geographic |
Arctic Bering Sea Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Bering Sea Pacific |
genre |
Arctic Bering Sea Climate change harbor seal Phoca vitulina Callorhinus ursinus Northern fur seal |
genre_facet |
Arctic Bering Sea Climate change harbor seal Phoca vitulina Callorhinus ursinus Northern fur seal |
op_source |
Drone Systems and Applications volume 10, issue 1, page 235-255 ISSN 2564-4939 2564-4939 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/dsa-2021-0050 |
container_title |
Drone Systems and Applications |
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1785577990926630912 |