Changes in sea ice and range expansion of sperm whales in the eclipse sound region of Baffin Bay, Canada ...
Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are a cosmopolitan species but are only found in ice-free regions of the ocean. It is unknown how their distribution might change in regions undergoing rapid loss of sea ice and ocean warming like Baffin Bay in the eastern Canadian Arctic. In 2014 and 2018, sper...
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| Format: | Dataset |
| Language: | English |
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Dryad
2022
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.c2fqz619z https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.c2fqz619z |
| Summary: | Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are a cosmopolitan species but are only found in ice-free regions of the ocean. It is unknown how their distribution might change in regions undergoing rapid loss of sea ice and ocean warming like Baffin Bay in the eastern Canadian Arctic. In 2014 and 2018, sperm whales were sighted near Eclipse Sound, Baffin Bay: the first recorded uses of this region by sperm whales. In this study, we investigate the spatiotemporal distribution of sperm whales near Eclipse Sound using visual and acoustic data. We combine several published open-source, data sets to create a map of historical sperm whale presence in the region. We use passive acoustic data from two recording sites between 2015 and 2019 to investigate more recent presence in the region. We also analyze regional trends in sea ice concentration dating back to 1901 and relate acoustic presence of sperm whales to the mean sea ice concentration near the recording sites. We found no records of sperm whale sightings near Eclipse ... : Historical Sperm Whale Distribution in Baffin Bay Sighting data was compiled from eight published datasets and studies to gain a better understanding of the historical distribution of sperm whales in Baffin Bay. Sampling effort for the sighting data was only available for two of the eight data sets. First, for the Programme Intégré de recherches sur les oiseaux pélagiques (PIROP) data set (CWS 2021), effort was calculated by plotting the boundaries of where sperm whales were not sighted during their surveys between 1970-2000 (Gjerdrum et al. 2012). Second, data points for sperm whale sightings and survey effort area from Shell’s marine mammal visual monitoring and mitigation program from 2012-2014 were extracted and replicated from Frouin-Mouy et al. (2017) using WebPlotDigitizer (Rohatgi 2017). Although there was no sampling effort available for the remaining six data sets they were included in the analysis as opportunistic sightings. Commercial whaling records for sperm whales were accessed on the Ocean ... |
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