Impacts of Whale-Watching on the Short-Term Behavior of Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in a Marine Protected Area in the Southeastern Pacific
Whale-watching (WW) is an activity which has been increasing worldwide due to the great interest of tourists and the economic benefits it provides to local communities. However, it has been reported that this activity affects the behavioral patterns of some cetaceans, although for some species such...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.623954 https://doaj.org/article/bc97e71eb59743bfa37c2210d339cfac |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:bc97e71eb59743bfa37c2210d339cfac 2023-05-15T15:36:37+02:00 Impacts of Whale-Watching on the Short-Term Behavior of Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in a Marine Protected Area in the Southeastern Pacific Macarena Santos-Carvallo Fernanda Barilari María José Pérez-Alvarez Laura Gutiérrez Guido Pavez Héctor Araya Cristobal Anguita Claudia Cerda Maritza Sepúlveda 2021-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.623954 https://doaj.org/article/bc97e71eb59743bfa37c2210d339cfac EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.623954/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.623954 https://doaj.org/article/bc97e71eb59743bfa37c2210d339cfac Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 8 (2021) traveling resting movement pattern analysis land-based tracking tourism effects Chile Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.623954 2022-12-31T05:31:48Z Whale-watching (WW) is an activity which has been increasing worldwide due to the great interest of tourists and the economic benefits it provides to local communities. However, it has been reported that this activity affects the behavioral patterns of some cetaceans, although for some species such as the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) this has not been extensively studied. To identify the effects of WW on the behavioral patterns of this species, we studied its traveling and resting behaviors in a locality of north-central Chile from 2015 to 2018. Using a theodolite, we calculated the response variables of swim speed, directness index, and reorientation for each behavior. We used the number of WW boats and the WW scenarios of “before”, “during”, and “after” the presence of boats as possible factors to explain the differences in the response variables of the whales, along with the factors of year, month, group size, and distance from the observation point. Reorientation increased significantly and the directness index decreased significantly for both traveling and resting behaviors from “before” to “during” WW scenarios, indicating more erratic and sinuous movements in the presence of boats. These changes in movement patterns are a commonly reported evasion response of cetaceans to the presence of WW boats. For traveling behavior, the swimming speed significantly increased, and trends showed increased reorientation and a decrease in the directness index in the “after” WW scenario, which suggests perturbation of the whales potentially associated with the speed and the direction in which the boats left. During resting behavior, the trajectories of the fin whales became straighter (decrease in reorientation) as the number of boats increased, thus evasion (more erratic and sinuous movements) is a behavior used less by fin whales as the number of boats increases. Notwithstanding the fact that tourism development in the study area is small in scale, we found that WW generates adverse effects that are reflected in ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Balaenoptera physalus Fin whale Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Pacific Frontiers in Marine Science 8 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
traveling resting movement pattern analysis land-based tracking tourism effects Chile Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
spellingShingle |
traveling resting movement pattern analysis land-based tracking tourism effects Chile Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 Macarena Santos-Carvallo Fernanda Barilari María José Pérez-Alvarez Laura Gutiérrez Guido Pavez Héctor Araya Cristobal Anguita Claudia Cerda Maritza Sepúlveda Impacts of Whale-Watching on the Short-Term Behavior of Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in a Marine Protected Area in the Southeastern Pacific |
topic_facet |
traveling resting movement pattern analysis land-based tracking tourism effects Chile Science Q General. Including nature conservation geographical distribution QH1-199.5 |
description |
Whale-watching (WW) is an activity which has been increasing worldwide due to the great interest of tourists and the economic benefits it provides to local communities. However, it has been reported that this activity affects the behavioral patterns of some cetaceans, although for some species such as the fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) this has not been extensively studied. To identify the effects of WW on the behavioral patterns of this species, we studied its traveling and resting behaviors in a locality of north-central Chile from 2015 to 2018. Using a theodolite, we calculated the response variables of swim speed, directness index, and reorientation for each behavior. We used the number of WW boats and the WW scenarios of “before”, “during”, and “after” the presence of boats as possible factors to explain the differences in the response variables of the whales, along with the factors of year, month, group size, and distance from the observation point. Reorientation increased significantly and the directness index decreased significantly for both traveling and resting behaviors from “before” to “during” WW scenarios, indicating more erratic and sinuous movements in the presence of boats. These changes in movement patterns are a commonly reported evasion response of cetaceans to the presence of WW boats. For traveling behavior, the swimming speed significantly increased, and trends showed increased reorientation and a decrease in the directness index in the “after” WW scenario, which suggests perturbation of the whales potentially associated with the speed and the direction in which the boats left. During resting behavior, the trajectories of the fin whales became straighter (decrease in reorientation) as the number of boats increased, thus evasion (more erratic and sinuous movements) is a behavior used less by fin whales as the number of boats increases. Notwithstanding the fact that tourism development in the study area is small in scale, we found that WW generates adverse effects that are reflected in ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Macarena Santos-Carvallo Fernanda Barilari María José Pérez-Alvarez Laura Gutiérrez Guido Pavez Héctor Araya Cristobal Anguita Claudia Cerda Maritza Sepúlveda |
author_facet |
Macarena Santos-Carvallo Fernanda Barilari María José Pérez-Alvarez Laura Gutiérrez Guido Pavez Héctor Araya Cristobal Anguita Claudia Cerda Maritza Sepúlveda |
author_sort |
Macarena Santos-Carvallo |
title |
Impacts of Whale-Watching on the Short-Term Behavior of Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in a Marine Protected Area in the Southeastern Pacific |
title_short |
Impacts of Whale-Watching on the Short-Term Behavior of Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in a Marine Protected Area in the Southeastern Pacific |
title_full |
Impacts of Whale-Watching on the Short-Term Behavior of Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in a Marine Protected Area in the Southeastern Pacific |
title_fullStr |
Impacts of Whale-Watching on the Short-Term Behavior of Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in a Marine Protected Area in the Southeastern Pacific |
title_full_unstemmed |
Impacts of Whale-Watching on the Short-Term Behavior of Fin Whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in a Marine Protected Area in the Southeastern Pacific |
title_sort |
impacts of whale-watching on the short-term behavior of fin whales (balaenoptera physalus) in a marine protected area in the southeastern pacific |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.623954 https://doaj.org/article/bc97e71eb59743bfa37c2210d339cfac |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
Balaenoptera physalus Fin whale |
genre_facet |
Balaenoptera physalus Fin whale |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol 8 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.623954/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-7745 2296-7745 doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.623954 https://doaj.org/article/bc97e71eb59743bfa37c2210d339cfac |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.623954 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
8 |
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1766366980717150208 |