Coming of age: - Do female harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from the North Sea and Baltic Sea have sufficient time to reproduce in a human influenced environment?
The harbour porpoise is the only cetacean species native to German waters. Since human pressures are suggested to shorten their reproductive lifespan, basic knowledge on reproduction is strongly required. One parameter is the onset of sexual maturity in female harbour porpoises. Therefore, we invest...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:2d252b69b1df4850bd9cfa386819cbf7 2023-05-15T16:33:28+02:00 Coming of age: - Do female harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from the North Sea and Baltic Sea have sufficient time to reproduce in a human influenced environment? Tina Kesselring Sacha Viquerat Ralph Brehm Ursula Siebert 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186951 https://doaj.org/article/2d252b69b1df4850bd9cfa386819cbf7 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5650184?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0186951 https://doaj.org/article/2d252b69b1df4850bd9cfa386819cbf7 PLoS ONE, Vol 12, Iss 10, p e0186951 (2017) Medicine R Science Q article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186951 2022-12-31T04:00:17Z The harbour porpoise is the only cetacean species native to German waters. Since human pressures are suggested to shorten their reproductive lifespan, basic knowledge on reproduction is strongly required. One parameter is the onset of sexual maturity in female harbour porpoises. Therefore, we investigated the first signs of sexual maturity for a period of almost two decades (1990-2016). Ovaries from 111 female harbour porpoises from the German North Sea and Baltic Sea were examined for the presence and morphological structure of follicles, corpora lutea and corpora albicantia. Based on the ovarian characteristics we performed the first model-based estimation of age at sexual maturity for harbour porpoises from German waters. Additionally, we produced a demographical age structure based on all female strandings and bycatches from German coasts. Our results showed that corpora lutea and corpora albicantia as signs of former ovulation could be found in individuals at an age of 4.95 (± 0.6) years. No significant differences between specimens from the North Sea and Baltic Sea were detected. However, the average age at death differed significantly with 5.70 (± 0.27) years for North Sea animals and 3.67 (± 0.30) years for those in the Baltic Sea. Growing evidence exists that the shortened lifespan of Baltic Sea harbour porpoises is linked to an anthropogenically influenced environment with rising bycatch mortalities due to local gillnet fisheries. Thus, our findings support the idea of local management plans based on a model-based detection of age at sexual maturity and considering the anthropogenic impacts on the population for effective protection of harbour porpoises and the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Article in Journal/Newspaper Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PLOS ONE 12 10 e0186951 |
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Medicine R Science Q |
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Medicine R Science Q Tina Kesselring Sacha Viquerat Ralph Brehm Ursula Siebert Coming of age: - Do female harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from the North Sea and Baltic Sea have sufficient time to reproduce in a human influenced environment? |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
The harbour porpoise is the only cetacean species native to German waters. Since human pressures are suggested to shorten their reproductive lifespan, basic knowledge on reproduction is strongly required. One parameter is the onset of sexual maturity in female harbour porpoises. Therefore, we investigated the first signs of sexual maturity for a period of almost two decades (1990-2016). Ovaries from 111 female harbour porpoises from the German North Sea and Baltic Sea were examined for the presence and morphological structure of follicles, corpora lutea and corpora albicantia. Based on the ovarian characteristics we performed the first model-based estimation of age at sexual maturity for harbour porpoises from German waters. Additionally, we produced a demographical age structure based on all female strandings and bycatches from German coasts. Our results showed that corpora lutea and corpora albicantia as signs of former ovulation could be found in individuals at an age of 4.95 (± 0.6) years. No significant differences between specimens from the North Sea and Baltic Sea were detected. However, the average age at death differed significantly with 5.70 (± 0.27) years for North Sea animals and 3.67 (± 0.30) years for those in the Baltic Sea. Growing evidence exists that the shortened lifespan of Baltic Sea harbour porpoises is linked to an anthropogenically influenced environment with rising bycatch mortalities due to local gillnet fisheries. Thus, our findings support the idea of local management plans based on a model-based detection of age at sexual maturity and considering the anthropogenic impacts on the population for effective protection of harbour porpoises and the North Sea and Baltic Sea. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tina Kesselring Sacha Viquerat Ralph Brehm Ursula Siebert |
author_facet |
Tina Kesselring Sacha Viquerat Ralph Brehm Ursula Siebert |
author_sort |
Tina Kesselring |
title |
Coming of age: - Do female harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from the North Sea and Baltic Sea have sufficient time to reproduce in a human influenced environment? |
title_short |
Coming of age: - Do female harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from the North Sea and Baltic Sea have sufficient time to reproduce in a human influenced environment? |
title_full |
Coming of age: - Do female harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from the North Sea and Baltic Sea have sufficient time to reproduce in a human influenced environment? |
title_fullStr |
Coming of age: - Do female harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from the North Sea and Baltic Sea have sufficient time to reproduce in a human influenced environment? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Coming of age: - Do female harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from the North Sea and Baltic Sea have sufficient time to reproduce in a human influenced environment? |
title_sort |
coming of age: - do female harbour porpoises (phocoena phocoena) from the north sea and baltic sea have sufficient time to reproduce in a human influenced environment? |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186951 https://doaj.org/article/2d252b69b1df4850bd9cfa386819cbf7 |
genre |
Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena |
genre_facet |
Harbour porpoise Phocoena phocoena |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 12, Iss 10, p e0186951 (2017) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5650184?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0186951 https://doaj.org/article/2d252b69b1df4850bd9cfa386819cbf7 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186951 |
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PLOS ONE |
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12 |
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10 |
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e0186951 |
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