Travel time and speed of gray whales and amphipod abundance along Chukotka Peninsula in 2006 ...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate summer and fall residency and habitat selection by gray whales, Eschrichtius robustus, together with the biomass of benthic amphipod prey on the coastal feeding grounds along the Chukotka Peninsula. Thirteen gray whales were instrumented with satellite trans...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter, Laidre, Kristin L, Litovka, D, Villum Jensen, M, Grebmeier, Jacqueline M, Sirenko, Boris I
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: PANGAEA 2012
Subjects:
IPY
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/pangaea.811069
https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.811069
Description
Summary:The purpose of this study was to evaluate summer and fall residency and habitat selection by gray whales, Eschrichtius robustus, together with the biomass of benthic amphipod prey on the coastal feeding grounds along the Chukotka Peninsula. Thirteen gray whales were instrumented with satellite transmitters in September 2006 near the Chukotka Peninsula, Russia. Nine transmitters provided positions from whales for up to 81 days. The whales travelled within 5 km of the Chukotka coast for most of the period they were tracked with only occasional movements offshore. The average daily travel speeds were 23 km/day (range 9-53 km/day). Four of the whales had daily average travel speeds <1 km/day suggesting strong fidelity to the study area. The area containing 95% of the locations for individual whales during biweekly periods was on average 13,027 km**2 (range 7,097-15,896 km**2). More than 65% of all locations were in water <30 m, and between 45 and 70% of biweekly kernel home ranges were located in depths ... : Data extracted in the frame of a joint ICSTI/PANGAEA IPY effort, see http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.150150 ...