Image_2_Exposure to whale watching vessels affects dive ascents and resting behavior in sperm whales.tiff
Disturbance from whale watching can induce a wide range of behavioral responses in cetaceans, some of which can affect their energetic balance and, ultimately, their long-term fitness. However, assessing disturbance effects on deep-diving cetaceans remains challenging, as the majority of their activ...
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ftfrontimediafig:oai:figshare.com:article/21458268 2023-05-15T17:59:23+02:00 Image_2_Exposure to whale watching vessels affects dive ascents and resting behavior in sperm whales.tiff Cláudia Oliveira Sergi Pérez-Jorge Rui Prieto Irma Cascão Paul J. Wensveen Mónica A. Silva 2022-11-02T11:07:15Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.914397.s003 https://figshare.com/articles/figure/Image_2_Exposure_to_whale_watching_vessels_affects_dive_ascents_and_resting_behavior_in_sperm_whales_tiff/21458268 unknown doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.914397.s003 https://figshare.com/articles/figure/Image_2_Exposure_to_whale_watching_vessels_affects_dive_ascents_and_resting_behavior_in_sperm_whales_tiff/21458268 CC BY 4.0 CC-BY Oceanography Marine Biology Marine Geoscience Biological Oceanography Chemical Oceanography Physical Oceanography Marine Engineering Physeter macrocephalus disturbance whale watching foraging and diving effort locomotion effort resting and socializing Image Figure 2022 ftfrontimediafig https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.914397.s003 2022-11-03T00:06:13Z Disturbance from whale watching can induce a wide range of behavioral responses in cetaceans, some of which can affect their energetic balance and, ultimately, their long-term fitness. However, assessing disturbance effects on deep-diving cetaceans remains challenging, as the majority of their activities occurs underwater and are difficult to monitor from surface observations. To surpass this limitation, we attached high-resolution multi-sensor tags (DTAGs) on 24 sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) off the Azores, an area of intense whale watching, to evaluate changes in movement and acoustic parameters related to foraging effort and dives, locomotion effort, and non-foraging behavior. These parameters were compared between periods of exposure and non-exposure to whale watching vessels, using linear mixed-effect models to assess the presence of short-term effects, accounting for individual differences in behavior. We found no significant changes in foraging effort (number of buzzes, bottom phase depth, proportion of search and foraging phases) and overall dive behavior (dive duration, proportion of dive phases, and descending or ascending pitch) between non-exposure and exposure periods. In contrast, variation in body pitch during non-foraging periods increased during exposure but not variation in body roll. Taken together, these results suggest increased movements during resting activity, which may carry energetic costs to whales and impact their health. Vertical velocity during ascents was also significantly higher in response to vessel exposure, suggesting that sperm whales increased the frequency of fluke strokes, which was consistent with a higher Overall Dynamic Body Acceleration (ODBA) during ascents, incurring in higher energy expenditure. If the detected changes are repeated across multiple exposures, they might affect the individual’s energetic budget, and consequently their fitness. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the short-term behavioral responses of sperm whales to whale ... Still Image Physeter macrocephalus Frontiers: Figshare |
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Open Polar |
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Frontiers: Figshare |
op_collection_id |
ftfrontimediafig |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Oceanography Marine Biology Marine Geoscience Biological Oceanography Chemical Oceanography Physical Oceanography Marine Engineering Physeter macrocephalus disturbance whale watching foraging and diving effort locomotion effort resting and socializing |
spellingShingle |
Oceanography Marine Biology Marine Geoscience Biological Oceanography Chemical Oceanography Physical Oceanography Marine Engineering Physeter macrocephalus disturbance whale watching foraging and diving effort locomotion effort resting and socializing Cláudia Oliveira Sergi Pérez-Jorge Rui Prieto Irma Cascão Paul J. Wensveen Mónica A. Silva Image_2_Exposure to whale watching vessels affects dive ascents and resting behavior in sperm whales.tiff |
topic_facet |
Oceanography Marine Biology Marine Geoscience Biological Oceanography Chemical Oceanography Physical Oceanography Marine Engineering Physeter macrocephalus disturbance whale watching foraging and diving effort locomotion effort resting and socializing |
description |
Disturbance from whale watching can induce a wide range of behavioral responses in cetaceans, some of which can affect their energetic balance and, ultimately, their long-term fitness. However, assessing disturbance effects on deep-diving cetaceans remains challenging, as the majority of their activities occurs underwater and are difficult to monitor from surface observations. To surpass this limitation, we attached high-resolution multi-sensor tags (DTAGs) on 24 sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) off the Azores, an area of intense whale watching, to evaluate changes in movement and acoustic parameters related to foraging effort and dives, locomotion effort, and non-foraging behavior. These parameters were compared between periods of exposure and non-exposure to whale watching vessels, using linear mixed-effect models to assess the presence of short-term effects, accounting for individual differences in behavior. We found no significant changes in foraging effort (number of buzzes, bottom phase depth, proportion of search and foraging phases) and overall dive behavior (dive duration, proportion of dive phases, and descending or ascending pitch) between non-exposure and exposure periods. In contrast, variation in body pitch during non-foraging periods increased during exposure but not variation in body roll. Taken together, these results suggest increased movements during resting activity, which may carry energetic costs to whales and impact their health. Vertical velocity during ascents was also significantly higher in response to vessel exposure, suggesting that sperm whales increased the frequency of fluke strokes, which was consistent with a higher Overall Dynamic Body Acceleration (ODBA) during ascents, incurring in higher energy expenditure. If the detected changes are repeated across multiple exposures, they might affect the individual’s energetic budget, and consequently their fitness. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the short-term behavioral responses of sperm whales to whale ... |
format |
Still Image |
author |
Cláudia Oliveira Sergi Pérez-Jorge Rui Prieto Irma Cascão Paul J. Wensveen Mónica A. Silva |
author_facet |
Cláudia Oliveira Sergi Pérez-Jorge Rui Prieto Irma Cascão Paul J. Wensveen Mónica A. Silva |
author_sort |
Cláudia Oliveira |
title |
Image_2_Exposure to whale watching vessels affects dive ascents and resting behavior in sperm whales.tiff |
title_short |
Image_2_Exposure to whale watching vessels affects dive ascents and resting behavior in sperm whales.tiff |
title_full |
Image_2_Exposure to whale watching vessels affects dive ascents and resting behavior in sperm whales.tiff |
title_fullStr |
Image_2_Exposure to whale watching vessels affects dive ascents and resting behavior in sperm whales.tiff |
title_full_unstemmed |
Image_2_Exposure to whale watching vessels affects dive ascents and resting behavior in sperm whales.tiff |
title_sort |
image_2_exposure to whale watching vessels affects dive ascents and resting behavior in sperm whales.tiff |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.914397.s003 https://figshare.com/articles/figure/Image_2_Exposure_to_whale_watching_vessels_affects_dive_ascents_and_resting_behavior_in_sperm_whales_tiff/21458268 |
genre |
Physeter macrocephalus |
genre_facet |
Physeter macrocephalus |
op_relation |
doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.914397.s003 https://figshare.com/articles/figure/Image_2_Exposure_to_whale_watching_vessels_affects_dive_ascents_and_resting_behavior_in_sperm_whales_tiff/21458268 |
op_rights |
CC BY 4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.914397.s003 |
_version_ |
1766168178270928896 |