Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland
In April 2006, a dedicated survey of bowhead whales ( Balaena mysticetus ) was conducted on the former whaling ground in West Greenland to determine the current wintering population abundance. This effort included a double platform aerial survey design, satellite tracking of the movements of nine wh...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310 2024-09-15T17:57:11+00:00 Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter Laidre, Kristin Borchers, David Samarra, Filipa Stern, Harry 2007 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Biology Letters volume 3, issue 5, page 577-580 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X journal-article 2007 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310 2024-08-05T04:35:27Z In April 2006, a dedicated survey of bowhead whales ( Balaena mysticetus ) was conducted on the former whaling ground in West Greenland to determine the current wintering population abundance. This effort included a double platform aerial survey design, satellite tracking of the movements of nine whales, and estimation of high-resolution surface time from 14 whales instrumented with time–depth recorders. Bowhead whales were estimated to spend an average of 24% (cv=0.03) of the time at or above 2 m depth, the maximum depth at which they can be seen on the trackline. This resulted in a fully corrected abundance estimate of 1229 (95% CI: 495–2939) bowhead whales when the availability factor was applied and sightings missed by observers were corrected. This surprisingly large population estimate is puzzling given that the change in abundance cannot be explained by a recent or rapid growth in population size. One possible explanation is that the population, which demonstrates high age and sex segregation, has recently attained a certain threshold size elsewhere, and a higher abundance of mature females appears on the winter and spring feeding ground in West Greenland. This in combination with the latest severe reduction in sea ice facilitating access to coastal areas might explain the surprising increase in bowhead whale abundance in West Greenland. Article in Journal/Newspaper Balaena mysticetus bowhead whale Greenland Sea ice The Royal Society Biology Letters 3 5 577 580 |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
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English |
description |
In April 2006, a dedicated survey of bowhead whales ( Balaena mysticetus ) was conducted on the former whaling ground in West Greenland to determine the current wintering population abundance. This effort included a double platform aerial survey design, satellite tracking of the movements of nine whales, and estimation of high-resolution surface time from 14 whales instrumented with time–depth recorders. Bowhead whales were estimated to spend an average of 24% (cv=0.03) of the time at or above 2 m depth, the maximum depth at which they can be seen on the trackline. This resulted in a fully corrected abundance estimate of 1229 (95% CI: 495–2939) bowhead whales when the availability factor was applied and sightings missed by observers were corrected. This surprisingly large population estimate is puzzling given that the change in abundance cannot be explained by a recent or rapid growth in population size. One possible explanation is that the population, which demonstrates high age and sex segregation, has recently attained a certain threshold size elsewhere, and a higher abundance of mature females appears on the winter and spring feeding ground in West Greenland. This in combination with the latest severe reduction in sea ice facilitating access to coastal areas might explain the surprising increase in bowhead whale abundance in West Greenland. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter Laidre, Kristin Borchers, David Samarra, Filipa Stern, Harry |
spellingShingle |
Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter Laidre, Kristin Borchers, David Samarra, Filipa Stern, Harry Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland |
author_facet |
Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter Laidre, Kristin Borchers, David Samarra, Filipa Stern, Harry |
author_sort |
Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter |
title |
Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland |
title_short |
Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland |
title_full |
Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland |
title_sort |
increasing abundance of bowhead whales in west greenland |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310 |
genre |
Balaena mysticetus bowhead whale Greenland Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Balaena mysticetus bowhead whale Greenland Sea ice |
op_source |
Biology Letters volume 3, issue 5, page 577-580 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
577 |
op_container_end_page |
580 |
_version_ |
1810433356883558400 |