Co-Occurrence and Habitat Use of Fin Whales, Striped Dolphins and Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea
Different dolphin and tuna species have frequently been reported to aggregate in areas of high frontal activity, sometimes developing close multi-species associations to increase feeding success. Aerial surveys are a common tool to monitor the density and abundance of marine mammals, and have recent...
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ftarchimer:oai:archimer.ifremer.fr:39481 2023-05-15T15:36:41+02:00 Co-Occurrence and Habitat Use of Fin Whales, Striped Dolphins and Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea Bauer, Robert Fromentin, Jean-marc Demarcq, Herve Brisset, Blandine Bonhommeau, Sylvain 2015-10 application/pdf https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00284/39481/37969.pdf https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00284/39481/37970.zip https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139218 https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00284/39481/ eng eng Public Library Science info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/26212/EU//SEADATANET https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00284/39481/37969.pdf https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00284/39481/37970.zip doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0139218 https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00284/39481/ 2015 Bauer et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess restricted use CC-BY Plos One (1932-6203) (Public Library Science), 2015-10 , Vol. 10 , N. 10 , P. e0139218 text Publication info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2015 ftarchimer https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139218 2021-09-23T20:26:41Z Different dolphin and tuna species have frequently been reported to aggregate in areas of high frontal activity, sometimes developing close multi-species associations to increase feeding success. Aerial surveys are a common tool to monitor the density and abundance of marine mammals, and have recently become a focus in the search for methods to provide fisheries-independent abundance indicators for tuna stock assessment. In this study, we present first density estimates corrected for availability bias of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) and striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) from the Golf of Lions (GoL), compared with uncorrected estimates of Atlantic bluefin tuna (ABFT; Thunnus thynnus) densities from 8 years of line transect aerial surveys. The raw sighting data were further used to analyze patterns of spatial co-occurrence and density of these three top marine predators in this important feeding ground in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea. These patterns were investigated regarding known species-specific feeding preferences and environmental characteristics (i. e. mesoscale activity) of the survey zone. ABFT was by far the most abundant species during the surveys in terms of schools and individuals, followed by striped dolphins and fin whales. However, when accounted for availability bias, schools of dolphins and fin whales were of equal density. Direct interactions of the species appeared to be the exception, but results indicate that densities, presence and core sighting locations of striped dolphins and ABFT were correlated. Core sighting areas of these species were located close to an area of high mesoscale activity (oceanic fronts and eddies). Fin whales did not show such a correlation. The results further highlight the feasibility to coordinate research efforts to explore the behaviour and abundance of the investigated species, as demanded by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Article in Journal/Newspaper Balaenoptera physalus Archimer (Archive Institutionnelle de l'Ifremer - Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer) PLOS ONE 10 10 e0139218 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Archimer (Archive Institutionnelle de l'Ifremer - Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer) |
op_collection_id |
ftarchimer |
language |
English |
description |
Different dolphin and tuna species have frequently been reported to aggregate in areas of high frontal activity, sometimes developing close multi-species associations to increase feeding success. Aerial surveys are a common tool to monitor the density and abundance of marine mammals, and have recently become a focus in the search for methods to provide fisheries-independent abundance indicators for tuna stock assessment. In this study, we present first density estimates corrected for availability bias of fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) and striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) from the Golf of Lions (GoL), compared with uncorrected estimates of Atlantic bluefin tuna (ABFT; Thunnus thynnus) densities from 8 years of line transect aerial surveys. The raw sighting data were further used to analyze patterns of spatial co-occurrence and density of these three top marine predators in this important feeding ground in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea. These patterns were investigated regarding known species-specific feeding preferences and environmental characteristics (i. e. mesoscale activity) of the survey zone. ABFT was by far the most abundant species during the surveys in terms of schools and individuals, followed by striped dolphins and fin whales. However, when accounted for availability bias, schools of dolphins and fin whales were of equal density. Direct interactions of the species appeared to be the exception, but results indicate that densities, presence and core sighting locations of striped dolphins and ABFT were correlated. Core sighting areas of these species were located close to an area of high mesoscale activity (oceanic fronts and eddies). Fin whales did not show such a correlation. The results further highlight the feasibility to coordinate research efforts to explore the behaviour and abundance of the investigated species, as demanded by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bauer, Robert Fromentin, Jean-marc Demarcq, Herve Brisset, Blandine Bonhommeau, Sylvain |
spellingShingle |
Bauer, Robert Fromentin, Jean-marc Demarcq, Herve Brisset, Blandine Bonhommeau, Sylvain Co-Occurrence and Habitat Use of Fin Whales, Striped Dolphins and Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea |
author_facet |
Bauer, Robert Fromentin, Jean-marc Demarcq, Herve Brisset, Blandine Bonhommeau, Sylvain |
author_sort |
Bauer, Robert |
title |
Co-Occurrence and Habitat Use of Fin Whales, Striped Dolphins and Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea |
title_short |
Co-Occurrence and Habitat Use of Fin Whales, Striped Dolphins and Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea |
title_full |
Co-Occurrence and Habitat Use of Fin Whales, Striped Dolphins and Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea |
title_fullStr |
Co-Occurrence and Habitat Use of Fin Whales, Striped Dolphins and Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Co-Occurrence and Habitat Use of Fin Whales, Striped Dolphins and Atlantic Bluefin Tuna in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea |
title_sort |
co-occurrence and habitat use of fin whales, striped dolphins and atlantic bluefin tuna in the northwestern mediterranean sea |
publisher |
Public Library Science |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00284/39481/37969.pdf https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00284/39481/37970.zip https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139218 https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00284/39481/ |
genre |
Balaenoptera physalus |
genre_facet |
Balaenoptera physalus |
op_source |
Plos One (1932-6203) (Public Library Science), 2015-10 , Vol. 10 , N. 10 , P. e0139218 |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/26212/EU//SEADATANET https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00284/39481/37969.pdf https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00284/39481/37970.zip doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0139218 https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00284/39481/ |
op_rights |
2015 Bauer et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess restricted use |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0139218 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
e0139218 |
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1766367051994103808 |