Quantifying uncertainty in anthropogenic causes of injury and mortality for an endangered baleen whale ...

Understanding the causes of mortality for a declining species is essential for developing effective conservation and management strategies, particularly when anthropogenic activities are the primary threat. Using a competing hazards framework allows for robust estimation of the cause-specific variat...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Linden, Daniel, Hostetler, Jeffrey, Pace III, Richard, Garrison, Lance, Knowlton, Amy, Lesage, Veronique, Williams, Rob, Runge, Michael
Format: Dataset
Language:English
Published: Dryad 2025
Subjects:
Bayesian statistics
capture-recapture
mortality cause
Right whales
entanglement
vessel strike
carcass recovery
FOS: Natural sciences
baleen whale
Eubalaena glacialis
North Atlantic
North Atlantic right whale
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.cc2fqz6f1
https://datadryad.org/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.cc2fqz6f1
Description
Summary:Understanding the causes of mortality for a declining species is essential for developing effective conservation and management strategies, particularly when anthropogenic activities are the primary threat. Using a competing hazards framework allows for robust estimation of the cause-specific variation that may exist across multiple dimensions, such as time and individual. Here, we estimated cause-specific rates of severe injury and mortality for North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis), a critically endangered species that is currently in peril due to human-caused interactions. We developed a multistate capture-recapture model that leveraged 30 years of intensive survey effort yielding sightings of individuals with injury assessments and necropsies of carcass recoveries. We examined variation in the hazard rates of severe injury and mortality due to entanglements in fishing gear and vessel strikes as explained by year and the age and reproductive status of the individual. We found strong evidence ... : More information on North Atlantic right whale sightings can be found at the NARWC. ...

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