Identifying seasonal distribution patterns of fin whales across the Scotia Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula region using a novel approach combining habitat suitability models and ensemble learning methods

Following their near extirpation by industrial whaling of the 20th century, the population status of Southern Hemisphere fin whales (SHFW) remains unknown. Systematic surveys estimating fin whale abundance in the Southern Ocean are not yet available. Records of fin whale sightings have been collecte...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in Marine Science
Main Authors: Sacha Viquerat, Claire M. Waluda, Amy S. Kennedy, Jennifer A. Jackson, Marta Hevia, Emma L. Carroll, Danielle L. Buss, Elke Burkhardt, Scott Thain, Patrick Smith, Eduardo R. Secchi, Jarrod A. Santora, Christian Reiss, Ulf Lindstrøm, Bjørn A. Krafft, George Gittins, Luciano Dalla Rosa, Martin Biuw, Helena Herr
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Subjects:
species distribution model
random forest classifier
opportunistic data analysis
Balaenoptera physalus
Southern Ocean
data compilation
Science
Q
General. Including nature conservation
geographical distribution
QH1-199.5
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
Scotia Sea
Antarc*
Fin whale
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1040512
https://doaj.org/article/e184beaa0e904520ab697f77ff44bf8f
Description
Summary:Following their near extirpation by industrial whaling of the 20th century, the population status of Southern Hemisphere fin whales (SHFW) remains unknown. Systematic surveys estimating fin whale abundance in the Southern Ocean are not yet available. Records of fin whale sightings have been collected by a variety of organisations over the past few decades, incorporating both opportunistic data and dedicated survey data. Together, these isolated data sets represent a potentially valuable source of information on the seasonality, distribution and abundance of SHFW. We compiled records across 40 years from the Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Sea from multiple sources and used a novel approach combining ensemble learning and a maximum entropy model to estimate abundance and distribution of SHFW in this region. Our results show a seasonal distribution pattern with pronounced centres of distribution from January-March along the West Antarctic Peninsula. Our new approach allowed us to estimate abundance of SHFW for discrete areas from a mixed data set of mainly opportunistic presence only data.

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