Patterns of winter occurrence of three sympatric killer whale populations off eastern Vancouver Island, Canada, based on passive acoustic monitoring
Understanding habitat use patterns of animal populations across space and time is fundamental to identifying ecological requirements, and informing threat mitigation and conservation strategies. Persistent data gaps tend to occur with cryptic species in difficult-to-access environments, where the us...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1204908 https://doaj.org/article/8ebd62ae862c4702b18cdc0af04e154c |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:8ebd62ae862c4702b18cdc0af04e154c 2023-09-05T13:20:49+02:00 Patterns of winter occurrence of three sympatric killer whale populations off eastern Vancouver Island, Canada, based on passive acoustic monitoring James F. Pilkington Eva H. Stredulinsky Katherine Gavrilchuk Sheila J. Thornton John K. B. Ford Thomas Doniol-Valcroze 2023-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1204908 https://doaj.org/article/8ebd62ae862c4702b18cdc0af04e154c EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1204908/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2023.1204908 https://doaj.org/article/8ebd62ae862c4702b18cdc0af04e154c Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 10 (2023) passive acoustic monitoring habitat use residence Strait of Georgia killer whale Orcinus orca Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1204908 2023-08-13T00:35:34Z Understanding habitat use patterns of animal populations across space and time is fundamental to identifying ecological requirements, and informing threat mitigation and conservation strategies. Persistent data gaps tend to occur with cryptic species in difficult-to-access environments, where the use of appropriate monitoring tools is indispensable for detection. Three populations of threatened and endangered killer whales occur year-round in waters off British Columbia, Canada; however, their winter habitat use patterns are not well known. Here we quantify wintertime use of the northern Strait of Georgia by these sympatric killer whale populations, revealing the importance of this previously understudied region. Using a network of passive acoustic monitoring devices deployed over three winter periods, we examine site-specific and regional patterns of occurrence of Bigg’s, and Southern and Northern Resident killer whales. All three populations frequented these waters in nearly every month from November to April, and across all study years. Bigg’s killer whales were detected most frequently, followed by Southern Residents, then Northern Residents. Population-specific differences in site use was apparent, with Southern Resident detections occurring more often than expected off the southwest side of Texada Island, while Northern Residents appeared to favor the east side of Texada Island. Remarkably, the patterns of winter use we observe in this region by Resident killer whale populations have seemingly persisted for at least 50 years. Additionally, we evaluate and discuss the effect of using multiple simultaneous recorders to characterize habitat use patterns. Lastly, we present a data-driven approach for estimating acoustic residence time, describe inter-population differences in winter residency in the northern Strait of Georgia, and discuss implications for critical habitat designation. This study fills important knowledge gaps related to killer whale winter occurrence off western Canada, highlighting the ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Killer Whale Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) Canada Frontiers in Marine Science 10 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
passive acoustic monitoring habitat use residence Strait of Georgia killer whale Orcinus orca Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
spellingShingle |
passive acoustic monitoring habitat use residence Strait of Georgia killer whale Orcinus orca Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 James F. Pilkington Eva H. Stredulinsky Katherine Gavrilchuk Sheila J. Thornton John K. B. Ford Thomas Doniol-Valcroze Patterns of winter occurrence of three sympatric killer whale populations off eastern Vancouver Island, Canada, based on passive acoustic monitoring |
topic_facet |
passive acoustic monitoring habitat use residence Strait of Georgia killer whale Orcinus orca Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
description |
Understanding habitat use patterns of animal populations across space and time is fundamental to identifying ecological requirements, and informing threat mitigation and conservation strategies. Persistent data gaps tend to occur with cryptic species in difficult-to-access environments, where the use of appropriate monitoring tools is indispensable for detection. Three populations of threatened and endangered killer whales occur year-round in waters off British Columbia, Canada; however, their winter habitat use patterns are not well known. Here we quantify wintertime use of the northern Strait of Georgia by these sympatric killer whale populations, revealing the importance of this previously understudied region. Using a network of passive acoustic monitoring devices deployed over three winter periods, we examine site-specific and regional patterns of occurrence of Bigg’s, and Southern and Northern Resident killer whales. All three populations frequented these waters in nearly every month from November to April, and across all study years. Bigg’s killer whales were detected most frequently, followed by Southern Residents, then Northern Residents. Population-specific differences in site use was apparent, with Southern Resident detections occurring more often than expected off the southwest side of Texada Island, while Northern Residents appeared to favor the east side of Texada Island. Remarkably, the patterns of winter use we observe in this region by Resident killer whale populations have seemingly persisted for at least 50 years. Additionally, we evaluate and discuss the effect of using multiple simultaneous recorders to characterize habitat use patterns. Lastly, we present a data-driven approach for estimating acoustic residence time, describe inter-population differences in winter residency in the northern Strait of Georgia, and discuss implications for critical habitat designation. This study fills important knowledge gaps related to killer whale winter occurrence off western Canada, highlighting the ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
James F. Pilkington Eva H. Stredulinsky Katherine Gavrilchuk Sheila J. Thornton John K. B. Ford Thomas Doniol-Valcroze |
author_facet |
James F. Pilkington Eva H. Stredulinsky Katherine Gavrilchuk Sheila J. Thornton John K. B. Ford Thomas Doniol-Valcroze |
author_sort |
James F. Pilkington |
title |
Patterns of winter occurrence of three sympatric killer whale populations off eastern Vancouver Island, Canada, based on passive acoustic monitoring |
title_short |
Patterns of winter occurrence of three sympatric killer whale populations off eastern Vancouver Island, Canada, based on passive acoustic monitoring |
title_full |
Patterns of winter occurrence of three sympatric killer whale populations off eastern Vancouver Island, Canada, based on passive acoustic monitoring |
title_fullStr |
Patterns of winter occurrence of three sympatric killer whale populations off eastern Vancouver Island, Canada, based on passive acoustic monitoring |
title_full_unstemmed |
Patterns of winter occurrence of three sympatric killer whale populations off eastern Vancouver Island, Canada, based on passive acoustic monitoring |
title_sort |
patterns of winter occurrence of three sympatric killer whale populations off eastern vancouver island, canada, based on passive acoustic monitoring |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1204908 https://doaj.org/article/8ebd62ae862c4702b18cdc0af04e154c |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) |
geographic |
British Columbia Canada |
geographic_facet |
British Columbia Canada |
genre |
Killer Whale Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale |
genre_facet |
Killer Whale Orca Orcinus orca Killer whale |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 10 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1204908/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2023.1204908 https://doaj.org/article/8ebd62ae862c4702b18cdc0af04e154c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1204908 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
10 |
_version_ |
1776201454527184896 |