A spatially explicit estimate of the prewhaling abundance of the endangered North Atlantic right whale
The North Atlantic right whale (NARW) (Eubalaena glacialis) is one of the world's most threatened whales. It came close to extinction after nearly a millennium of exploitation and currently persists as a population of only approximately 500 individuals. Setting appropriate conservation targets...
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Wiley-Blackwell
2016
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/348377 https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12664 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85027951923 |
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ftcsic:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/348377 2024-06-23T07:52:34+00:00 A spatially explicit estimate of the prewhaling abundance of the endangered North Atlantic right whale Monsarrat, Sophie Pennino, Maria Grazia Smith, Tim D Reeves, Randall R Meynard, Christine N Kaplan, David M Rodrigues, Ana S L 2016-08 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/348377 https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12664 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85027951923 en eng Wiley-Blackwell Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12664 No Conservation Biology 30(4) : 783-791 (2016) 0888-8892 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/348377 doi:10.1111/cobi.12664 1523-1739 26632250 2-s2.0-85027951923 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85027951923 none Eubalaena caza de ballenas feeding grounds generalized additive modeling historical baseline línea base histórica modelado aditivo generalizado population size tamaño de población whaling áreas de alimentación artículo http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 2016 ftcsic https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12664 2024-05-29T00:06:20Z The North Atlantic right whale (NARW) (Eubalaena glacialis) is one of the world's most threatened whales. It came close to extinction after nearly a millennium of exploitation and currently persists as a population of only approximately 500 individuals. Setting appropriate conservation targets for this species requires an understanding of its historical population size, as a baseline for measuring levels of depletion and progress toward recovery. This is made difficult by the scarcity of records over this species' long whaling history. We sought to estimate the preexploitation population size of the North Atlantic right whale and understand how this species was distributed across its range. We used a spatially explicit data set on historical catches of North Pacific right whales (NPRWs) (Eubalaena japonica) to model the relationship between right whale relative density and the environment during the summer feeding season. Assuming the 2 right whale species select similar environments, we projected this model to the North Atlantic to predict how the relative abundance of NARWs varied across their range. We calibrated these relative abundances with estimates of the NPRW total prewhaling population size to obtain high and low estimates for the overall NARW population size prior to exploitation. The model predicted 9,075-21,328 right whales in the North Atlantic. The current NARW population is thus <6% of the historical North Atlantic carrying capacity and has enormous potential for recovery. According to the model, in June-September NARWs concentrated in 2 main feeding areas: east of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and in the Norwegian Sea. These 2 areas may become important in the future as feeding grounds and may already be used more regularly by this endangered species than is thought. This analysis was funded by the MORSE project French National Research Agency, CEP&S 2011 - Project ANR-11-CEPL-006. It also benefited from discussions with members of the CESAB (Center for Synthesis and Analysis of ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Eubalaena glacialis Eubalaena japonica Newfoundland North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale Norwegian Sea morse Digital.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) Ballenas ENVELOPE(-64.167,-64.167,-65.183,-65.183) Morse ENVELOPE(130.167,130.167,-66.250,-66.250) Norwegian Sea Pacific Conservation Biology 30 4 783 791 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Digital.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) |
op_collection_id |
ftcsic |
language |
English |
topic |
Eubalaena caza de ballenas feeding grounds generalized additive modeling historical baseline línea base histórica modelado aditivo generalizado population size tamaño de población whaling áreas de alimentación |
spellingShingle |
Eubalaena caza de ballenas feeding grounds generalized additive modeling historical baseline línea base histórica modelado aditivo generalizado population size tamaño de población whaling áreas de alimentación Monsarrat, Sophie Pennino, Maria Grazia Smith, Tim D Reeves, Randall R Meynard, Christine N Kaplan, David M Rodrigues, Ana S L A spatially explicit estimate of the prewhaling abundance of the endangered North Atlantic right whale |
topic_facet |
Eubalaena caza de ballenas feeding grounds generalized additive modeling historical baseline línea base histórica modelado aditivo generalizado population size tamaño de población whaling áreas de alimentación |
description |
The North Atlantic right whale (NARW) (Eubalaena glacialis) is one of the world's most threatened whales. It came close to extinction after nearly a millennium of exploitation and currently persists as a population of only approximately 500 individuals. Setting appropriate conservation targets for this species requires an understanding of its historical population size, as a baseline for measuring levels of depletion and progress toward recovery. This is made difficult by the scarcity of records over this species' long whaling history. We sought to estimate the preexploitation population size of the North Atlantic right whale and understand how this species was distributed across its range. We used a spatially explicit data set on historical catches of North Pacific right whales (NPRWs) (Eubalaena japonica) to model the relationship between right whale relative density and the environment during the summer feeding season. Assuming the 2 right whale species select similar environments, we projected this model to the North Atlantic to predict how the relative abundance of NARWs varied across their range. We calibrated these relative abundances with estimates of the NPRW total prewhaling population size to obtain high and low estimates for the overall NARW population size prior to exploitation. The model predicted 9,075-21,328 right whales in the North Atlantic. The current NARW population is thus <6% of the historical North Atlantic carrying capacity and has enormous potential for recovery. According to the model, in June-September NARWs concentrated in 2 main feeding areas: east of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and in the Norwegian Sea. These 2 areas may become important in the future as feeding grounds and may already be used more regularly by this endangered species than is thought. This analysis was funded by the MORSE project French National Research Agency, CEP&S 2011 - Project ANR-11-CEPL-006. It also benefited from discussions with members of the CESAB (Center for Synthesis and Analysis of ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Monsarrat, Sophie Pennino, Maria Grazia Smith, Tim D Reeves, Randall R Meynard, Christine N Kaplan, David M Rodrigues, Ana S L |
author_facet |
Monsarrat, Sophie Pennino, Maria Grazia Smith, Tim D Reeves, Randall R Meynard, Christine N Kaplan, David M Rodrigues, Ana S L |
author_sort |
Monsarrat, Sophie |
title |
A spatially explicit estimate of the prewhaling abundance of the endangered North Atlantic right whale |
title_short |
A spatially explicit estimate of the prewhaling abundance of the endangered North Atlantic right whale |
title_full |
A spatially explicit estimate of the prewhaling abundance of the endangered North Atlantic right whale |
title_fullStr |
A spatially explicit estimate of the prewhaling abundance of the endangered North Atlantic right whale |
title_full_unstemmed |
A spatially explicit estimate of the prewhaling abundance of the endangered North Atlantic right whale |
title_sort |
spatially explicit estimate of the prewhaling abundance of the endangered north atlantic right whale |
publisher |
Wiley-Blackwell |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10261/348377 https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12664 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85027951923 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-64.167,-64.167,-65.183,-65.183) ENVELOPE(130.167,130.167,-66.250,-66.250) |
geographic |
Ballenas Morse Norwegian Sea Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Ballenas Morse Norwegian Sea Pacific |
genre |
Eubalaena glacialis Eubalaena japonica Newfoundland North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale Norwegian Sea morse |
genre_facet |
Eubalaena glacialis Eubalaena japonica Newfoundland North Atlantic North Atlantic right whale Norwegian Sea morse |
op_relation |
Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12664 No Conservation Biology 30(4) : 783-791 (2016) 0888-8892 http://hdl.handle.net/10261/348377 doi:10.1111/cobi.12664 1523-1739 26632250 2-s2.0-85027951923 https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85027951923 |
op_rights |
none |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12664 |
container_title |
Conservation Biology |
container_volume |
30 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
783 |
op_container_end_page |
791 |
_version_ |
1802643906025750528 |