Spatial ecology of marine top predators ...

• Main Author: Jones, Esther L.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of St Andrews 2017
• Subjects: harbour seal; Phoca vitulina
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17630/10023-12278; https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/handle/10023/12278

Species distribution maps can provide important information to focus conservation efforts and enable spatial management of human activities. Two sympatric marine predators, grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) and harbour seals (Phoca vitulina), have overlapping ranges but contrasting population dynamics around the UK; whilst grey seals have generally increased, harbour seals have shown significant regional declines. A robust analytical methodology was developed to produce maps of grey and harbour seal usage estimates with corresponding uncertainty, and scales of spatial partitioning between the species were found. Throughout their range, both grey and harbour seals spend the majority of their time within 50 km of the coast. The scalability of the analytical approach was enhanced and environmental information to enable spatial predictions was included. The resultant maps have been applied to inform consent and licensing of marine renewable developments of wind farms and tidal turbines. For harbour seals around ...