Identifying important habitat for northern bottlenose and Sowerby's beaked whales in the western North Atlantic
Abstract Understanding habitat requirements for species at risk is crucial for effective conservation management, even though the location and extent of vital habitats may be unknown for rare or elusive species. In the case of marine species, determining important habitat often relies on limited occ...
Published in: | Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aqc.4064 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/aqc.4064 |
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crwiley:10.1002/aqc.4064 2024-09-15T18:11:18+00:00 Identifying important habitat for northern bottlenose and Sowerby's beaked whales in the western North Atlantic Feyrer, L. J. Stanistreet, J. E. Gomez, C. Adams, M. Lawson, J. W. Ferguson, S. H. Heaslip, S. G. Lefort, K. J. Davidson, E. Hussey, N. E. Whitehead, H. Moors‐Murphy, H. Environmental Studies Research Funds Fisheries and Oceans Canada Killam Trusts National Geographic Society Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aqc.4064 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/aqc.4064 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems volume 34, issue 1 ISSN 1052-7613 1099-0755 journal-article 2024 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.4064 2024-08-13T04:15:33Z Abstract Understanding habitat requirements for species at risk is crucial for effective conservation management, even though the location and extent of vital habitats may be unknown for rare or elusive species. In the case of marine species, determining important habitat often relies on limited occurrence data or extrapolation from species distribution models (SDMs). SDMs predict habitat by associating species records with environmental variables, assuming a functional ecological relationship. This study focuses on northern bottlenose whales (NBW; Hyperoodon ampullatus ) and Sowerby's beaked whales (SBW; Mesoplodon bidens ) in the western North Atlantic. As both NBW and SBW are at risk in Canada, the objective was to identify the extent and function of important habitats to guide conservation efforts. The analysis mapped all available geographic occurrence data and used passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) data to inform the development of ensemble SDMs to predict potential habitat and assess the persistence of realized habitat use. Important habitats for NBW and SBW were found primarily concentrated along the continental shelf edges, at an average depth of 1200 m ± 460 SD. All habitat areas support foraging and movement and critical life history functions for both species. The Gully and other submarine canyons off eastern Nova Scotia emerged as important areas for both species, validating the existing Critical Habitat for NBW. However, spatial–temporal patterns diverged on either side of this region. North‐eastern Newfoundland was identified as the next closest area of near‐year‐round presence for NBW, whereas the south‐western Scotian Shelf region, Georges Bank and the Fundian Channel supported persistent foraging by SBW. By integrating multiple data sources (sightings, acoustic detections and SDMs) and demonstrating the temporal persistence of habitat use by NBW and SBW, this study provides valuable insights for identifying, protecting and managing important habitat for beaked whales. Article in Journal/Newspaper hyperoodon ampullatus Mesoplodon bidens Newfoundland North Atlantic Wiley Online Library Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 34 1 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Understanding habitat requirements for species at risk is crucial for effective conservation management, even though the location and extent of vital habitats may be unknown for rare or elusive species. In the case of marine species, determining important habitat often relies on limited occurrence data or extrapolation from species distribution models (SDMs). SDMs predict habitat by associating species records with environmental variables, assuming a functional ecological relationship. This study focuses on northern bottlenose whales (NBW; Hyperoodon ampullatus ) and Sowerby's beaked whales (SBW; Mesoplodon bidens ) in the western North Atlantic. As both NBW and SBW are at risk in Canada, the objective was to identify the extent and function of important habitats to guide conservation efforts. The analysis mapped all available geographic occurrence data and used passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) data to inform the development of ensemble SDMs to predict potential habitat and assess the persistence of realized habitat use. Important habitats for NBW and SBW were found primarily concentrated along the continental shelf edges, at an average depth of 1200 m ± 460 SD. All habitat areas support foraging and movement and critical life history functions for both species. The Gully and other submarine canyons off eastern Nova Scotia emerged as important areas for both species, validating the existing Critical Habitat for NBW. However, spatial–temporal patterns diverged on either side of this region. North‐eastern Newfoundland was identified as the next closest area of near‐year‐round presence for NBW, whereas the south‐western Scotian Shelf region, Georges Bank and the Fundian Channel supported persistent foraging by SBW. By integrating multiple data sources (sightings, acoustic detections and SDMs) and demonstrating the temporal persistence of habitat use by NBW and SBW, this study provides valuable insights for identifying, protecting and managing important habitat for beaked whales. |
author2 |
Environmental Studies Research Funds Fisheries and Oceans Canada Killam Trusts National Geographic Society Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Feyrer, L. J. Stanistreet, J. E. Gomez, C. Adams, M. Lawson, J. W. Ferguson, S. H. Heaslip, S. G. Lefort, K. J. Davidson, E. Hussey, N. E. Whitehead, H. Moors‐Murphy, H. |
spellingShingle |
Feyrer, L. J. Stanistreet, J. E. Gomez, C. Adams, M. Lawson, J. W. Ferguson, S. H. Heaslip, S. G. Lefort, K. J. Davidson, E. Hussey, N. E. Whitehead, H. Moors‐Murphy, H. Identifying important habitat for northern bottlenose and Sowerby's beaked whales in the western North Atlantic |
author_facet |
Feyrer, L. J. Stanistreet, J. E. Gomez, C. Adams, M. Lawson, J. W. Ferguson, S. H. Heaslip, S. G. Lefort, K. J. Davidson, E. Hussey, N. E. Whitehead, H. Moors‐Murphy, H. |
author_sort |
Feyrer, L. J. |
title |
Identifying important habitat for northern bottlenose and Sowerby's beaked whales in the western North Atlantic |
title_short |
Identifying important habitat for northern bottlenose and Sowerby's beaked whales in the western North Atlantic |
title_full |
Identifying important habitat for northern bottlenose and Sowerby's beaked whales in the western North Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Identifying important habitat for northern bottlenose and Sowerby's beaked whales in the western North Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Identifying important habitat for northern bottlenose and Sowerby's beaked whales in the western North Atlantic |
title_sort |
identifying important habitat for northern bottlenose and sowerby's beaked whales in the western north atlantic |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aqc.4064 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/aqc.4064 |
genre |
hyperoodon ampullatus Mesoplodon bidens Newfoundland North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
hyperoodon ampullatus Mesoplodon bidens Newfoundland North Atlantic |
op_source |
Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems volume 34, issue 1 ISSN 1052-7613 1099-0755 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.4064 |
container_title |
Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems |
container_volume |
34 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1810448881613275136 |