Spatially Estimating Disturbance of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina).
Tidewater glacial fjords in Alaska provide habitat for some of the largest aggregations of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), with calved ice serving as platforms for birthing and nursing pups, molting, and resting. These fjords have also been popular destinations for tour ships for more than a century,...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:c5bf897f12414c48a1f59b6c2a165676 2023-05-15T17:58:53+02:00 Spatially Estimating Disturbance of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina). John K Jansen Gavin M Brady Jay M Ver Hoef Peter L Boveng 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0129798 https://doaj.org/article/c5bf897f12414c48a1f59b6c2a165676 EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4488586?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0129798 https://doaj.org/article/c5bf897f12414c48a1f59b6c2a165676 PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 7, p e0129798 (2015) Medicine R Science Q article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0129798 2022-12-31T02:35:41Z Tidewater glacial fjords in Alaska provide habitat for some of the largest aggregations of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), with calved ice serving as platforms for birthing and nursing pups, molting, and resting. These fjords have also been popular destinations for tour ships for more than a century, with dramatic increases in vessel traffic since the 1980s. Seals on ice are known to flush into the water when approached by tour ships, but estimating the exposure to disturbance across populations is difficult. Using aerial transect sampling while simultaneously tracking vessel movements, we estimated the spatial overlap between seals on ice and cruise ships in Disenchantment Bay, Alaska, USA. By integrating previously estimated rates of disturbance as a function of distance with an 'intensity surface' modeled spatially from seal locations in the surveys, we calculated probabilities of seals flushing during three separate ship visits. By combining our estimate of seals flushed with a modeled estimate of the total fjord population, we predict that up to 14% of the seals (up to 11% of pups) hauled out would have flushed into the water, depending on the route taken by ships relative to seal aggregations. Such high potential for broad-scale disturbance by single vessels (when up to 4 ships visit per day) was unexpected and underscores the need to 1) better understand long-term effects of disturbance; 2) regularly monitor populations exposed to high vessel traffic; and 3) develop conservation measures to reduce seal-ship overlap. Article in Journal/Newspaper Phoca vitulina Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles PLOS ONE 10 7 e0129798 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
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Medicine R Science Q John K Jansen Gavin M Brady Jay M Ver Hoef Peter L Boveng Spatially Estimating Disturbance of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina). |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Tidewater glacial fjords in Alaska provide habitat for some of the largest aggregations of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), with calved ice serving as platforms for birthing and nursing pups, molting, and resting. These fjords have also been popular destinations for tour ships for more than a century, with dramatic increases in vessel traffic since the 1980s. Seals on ice are known to flush into the water when approached by tour ships, but estimating the exposure to disturbance across populations is difficult. Using aerial transect sampling while simultaneously tracking vessel movements, we estimated the spatial overlap between seals on ice and cruise ships in Disenchantment Bay, Alaska, USA. By integrating previously estimated rates of disturbance as a function of distance with an 'intensity surface' modeled spatially from seal locations in the surveys, we calculated probabilities of seals flushing during three separate ship visits. By combining our estimate of seals flushed with a modeled estimate of the total fjord population, we predict that up to 14% of the seals (up to 11% of pups) hauled out would have flushed into the water, depending on the route taken by ships relative to seal aggregations. Such high potential for broad-scale disturbance by single vessels (when up to 4 ships visit per day) was unexpected and underscores the need to 1) better understand long-term effects of disturbance; 2) regularly monitor populations exposed to high vessel traffic; and 3) develop conservation measures to reduce seal-ship overlap. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
John K Jansen Gavin M Brady Jay M Ver Hoef Peter L Boveng |
author_facet |
John K Jansen Gavin M Brady Jay M Ver Hoef Peter L Boveng |
author_sort |
John K Jansen |
title |
Spatially Estimating Disturbance of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina). |
title_short |
Spatially Estimating Disturbance of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina). |
title_full |
Spatially Estimating Disturbance of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina). |
title_fullStr |
Spatially Estimating Disturbance of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina). |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spatially Estimating Disturbance of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina). |
title_sort |
spatially estimating disturbance of harbor seals (phoca vitulina). |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0129798 https://doaj.org/article/c5bf897f12414c48a1f59b6c2a165676 |
genre |
Phoca vitulina Alaska |
genre_facet |
Phoca vitulina Alaska |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 7, p e0129798 (2015) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4488586?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0129798 https://doaj.org/article/c5bf897f12414c48a1f59b6c2a165676 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0129798 |
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PLOS ONE |
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10 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
e0129798 |
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