The effect of sea-ice loss on beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in West Greenlandpor_142 198.208

• Main Authors: M. P. Heide-jørgensen, K. L. Laidre, D. Borchers, T. A. Marques, H. Stern, M. Simon
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: climate change; line transect; sea ice; Baffin Bay; Greenland; Store Hellefiske Bank; Baffin; Beluga; Beluga*; Delphinapterus leucas; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.308.2816; http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/1856/1/PolarResearch2010vol29_2BelugaWhales.pdf

doi:10.1111/j.1751-8369.2009.00142.x An aerial survey was conducted to estimate the abundance of belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) on their wintering ground in West Greenland in March–April 2006 and 2008. The survey was conducted as a double platform aerial line transect survey, and sampled approximately 17 % of the total survey area of ca. 125 000 km 2. The abundance of belugas was 10 595 (95 % confidence interval 4904–24 650). The largest abundance was found at the northern part of Store Hellefiske Bank, at the eastern edge of the Baffin Bay pack ice, a pattern similar to that found in eight systematic surveys conducted since 1981. A clear relationship between decreasing sea-ice cover and increasing offshore distance of beluga sightings was established from all previous surveys, suggesting that belugas expand their distribution westward as new areas on the banks of West Greenland open up earlier in spring with reduced sea-ice coverage or early annual ice recession. This is in contrast to the relatively confined distribution of