Sperm whale demographics in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands: An overlooked female habitat
Sperm whales exhibit sexual dimorphism and sex-specific latitudinal segregation. Females and their young form social groups and are usually found in temperate and tropical latitudes, while males forage at higher latitudes. Historical whaling data and rare sightings of social groups in high latitude...
Published in: | PLOS ONE |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Other Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2024
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285068 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285068 |
id |
crplos:10.1371/journal.pone.0285068 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crplos:10.1371/journal.pone.0285068 2024-09-09T19:33:47+00:00 Sperm whale demographics in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands: An overlooked female habitat Posdaljian, Natalie Solsona-Berga, Alba Hildebrand, John A. Soderstjerna, Caroline Wiggins, Sean M. Lenssen, Kieran Baumann-Pickering, Simone Miller, Patrick J. O. Naval Postgraduate School US Navy Pacific Fleet NAVFAC/CESU 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285068 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285068 en eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ PLOS ONE volume 19, issue 7, page e0285068 ISSN 1932-6203 journal-article 2024 crplos https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285068 2024-07-09T04:08:29Z Sperm whales exhibit sexual dimorphism and sex-specific latitudinal segregation. Females and their young form social groups and are usually found in temperate and tropical latitudes, while males forage at higher latitudes. Historical whaling data and rare sightings of social groups in high latitude regions of the North Pacific, such as the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI), suggest a more complex distribution than previously understood. Sperm whales are the most sighted and recorded cetacean in marine mammal surveys in these regions but capturing their demographic composition and habitat use has proven challenging. This study detects sperm whale presence using passive acoustic data from seven sites in the GOA and BSAI from 2010 to 2019. Differences in click characteristics between males and females (i.e., inter-click and inter-pulse interval) was used as a proxy for animal size/sex to derive time series of animal detections. Generalized additive models with generalized estimation equations demonstrate how spatiotemporal patterns differ between the sexes. Social groups were present at all recording sites with the largest relative proportion at two seamount sites in the GOA and an island site in the BSAI. We found that the seasonal patterns of presence varied for the sexes and between the sites. Male presence was highest in the summer and lowest in the winter, conversely, social group peak presence was in the winter for the BSAI and in the spring for the GOA region, with the lowest presence in the summer months. This study demonstrates that social groups are not restricted to lower latitudes and capture their present-day habitat use in the North Pacific. It highlights that sperm whale distribution is more complex than accounted for in management protocol and underscores the need for improved understanding of sperm whale demographic composition to better understand the impacts of increasing anthropogenic threats, particularly climate change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Bering Sea Sperm whale Alaska Aleutian Islands PLOS Bering Sea Gulf of Alaska Pacific PLOS ONE 19 7 e0285068 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PLOS |
op_collection_id |
crplos |
language |
English |
description |
Sperm whales exhibit sexual dimorphism and sex-specific latitudinal segregation. Females and their young form social groups and are usually found in temperate and tropical latitudes, while males forage at higher latitudes. Historical whaling data and rare sightings of social groups in high latitude regions of the North Pacific, such as the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BSAI), suggest a more complex distribution than previously understood. Sperm whales are the most sighted and recorded cetacean in marine mammal surveys in these regions but capturing their demographic composition and habitat use has proven challenging. This study detects sperm whale presence using passive acoustic data from seven sites in the GOA and BSAI from 2010 to 2019. Differences in click characteristics between males and females (i.e., inter-click and inter-pulse interval) was used as a proxy for animal size/sex to derive time series of animal detections. Generalized additive models with generalized estimation equations demonstrate how spatiotemporal patterns differ between the sexes. Social groups were present at all recording sites with the largest relative proportion at two seamount sites in the GOA and an island site in the BSAI. We found that the seasonal patterns of presence varied for the sexes and between the sites. Male presence was highest in the summer and lowest in the winter, conversely, social group peak presence was in the winter for the BSAI and in the spring for the GOA region, with the lowest presence in the summer months. This study demonstrates that social groups are not restricted to lower latitudes and capture their present-day habitat use in the North Pacific. It highlights that sperm whale distribution is more complex than accounted for in management protocol and underscores the need for improved understanding of sperm whale demographic composition to better understand the impacts of increasing anthropogenic threats, particularly climate change. |
author2 |
Miller, Patrick J. O. Naval Postgraduate School US Navy Pacific Fleet NAVFAC/CESU |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Posdaljian, Natalie Solsona-Berga, Alba Hildebrand, John A. Soderstjerna, Caroline Wiggins, Sean M. Lenssen, Kieran Baumann-Pickering, Simone |
spellingShingle |
Posdaljian, Natalie Solsona-Berga, Alba Hildebrand, John A. Soderstjerna, Caroline Wiggins, Sean M. Lenssen, Kieran Baumann-Pickering, Simone Sperm whale demographics in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands: An overlooked female habitat |
author_facet |
Posdaljian, Natalie Solsona-Berga, Alba Hildebrand, John A. Soderstjerna, Caroline Wiggins, Sean M. Lenssen, Kieran Baumann-Pickering, Simone |
author_sort |
Posdaljian, Natalie |
title |
Sperm whale demographics in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands: An overlooked female habitat |
title_short |
Sperm whale demographics in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands: An overlooked female habitat |
title_full |
Sperm whale demographics in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands: An overlooked female habitat |
title_fullStr |
Sperm whale demographics in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands: An overlooked female habitat |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sperm whale demographics in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands: An overlooked female habitat |
title_sort |
sperm whale demographics in the gulf of alaska and bering sea/aleutian islands: an overlooked female habitat |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285068 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285068 |
geographic |
Bering Sea Gulf of Alaska Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Bering Sea Gulf of Alaska Pacific |
genre |
Bering Sea Sperm whale Alaska Aleutian Islands |
genre_facet |
Bering Sea Sperm whale Alaska Aleutian Islands |
op_source |
PLOS ONE volume 19, issue 7, page e0285068 ISSN 1932-6203 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285068 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
e0285068 |
_version_ |
1809903323726217216 |