Quantitative analysis of baleen whale surface interval behaviors in drone video ...

• Main Author: Dawn, Allison
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries 2021
• Subjects: Alta; Balaenoptera musculus; baleen whale; baleen whales
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17615/01mb-1x68; https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/honors_theses/bc386s875

Foraging in baleen whales is energetically intensive and requires a surface interval resting period between each foraging dive to replenish oxygen stores and conserve energy. UAS systems provide an effective, cost efficient, and non-invasive alternative platform to observe fine-scale foraging behavior. The present study introduces a methodological approach for annotating unoccupied aircraft system (UAS)-based aerial imagery to encode and analyze surface behaviors during these recovery intervals. Using a Freefly ALTA 6 UAS, video data were collected synoptically with photogrammetric still imagery in Monterey Bay, California during August 2017 and 2018. During these flights, foraging and surface interval events of blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) were recorded along the perimeter of the Monterey Bay Submarine Canyon system. This initial study evaluates 11 flights containing behavior of 10 blue whales, having a mean surface interval of 1 minute and 6 seconds. Using the Behavioral Observation Research ...