Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) behaviour determines habitat use in two Australian bays
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) require a suite of essential habitats during their long migration. Therefore, the identification of critical habitats is important for continuation of their successful recovery. In this study we investigated the behaviours and habitat usage exhibited by humpb...
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ftgriffithuniv:oai:research-repository.griffith.edu.au:10072/404056 2024-05-19T07:41:45+00:00 Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) behaviour determines habitat use in two Australian bays McCulloch, S Meynecke, JO Franklin, T Franklin, W Chauvenet, ALM 2021 http://hdl.handle.net/10072/404056 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF21065 en eng CSIRO Publishing Marine and Freshwater Research McCulloch, S; Meynecke, JO; Franklin, T; Franklin, W; Chauvenet, ALM, Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) behaviour determines habitat use in two Australian bays, Marine and Freshwater Research, 2021, 72 (9), pp. 1251-1267 http://hdl.handle.net/10072/404056 1323-1650 doi:10.1071/MF21065 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en_US © CSIRO 2021. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). open access Biological oceanography Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) Journal article 2021 ftgriffithuniv https://doi.org/10.1071/MF21065 2024-04-23T23:37:24Z Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) require a suite of essential habitats during their long migration. Therefore, the identification of critical habitats is important for continuation of their successful recovery. In this study we investigated the behaviours and habitat usage exhibited by humpback whales in two known aggregation sites on the east coast of Australia. Using a combined 5400 humpback whale records collected from Hervey Bay between 1999 and 2009 and from the Gold Coast Bay between 2011 and 2018, we analysed different types of behavioural categories. We found that humpback whales in Hervey Bay primarily exhibited surface travel and non-aggressive social behaviour, whereas both sites appeared to be similarly important for resting. Our results suggest that the Gold Coast Bay provides habitat for a wide range of critical humpback whale activities, in particular for resting mother-calf pairs, mature males seeking copulation and socialising immature whales. Hervey Bay had a higher number of mother-calf pair sightings, confirming the area as an important resting site. This study demonstrates that the two regions are critical habitats for humpback whales during their annual migration, but for different essential activities, and should be considered as a whale protection area. Full Text Article in Journal/Newspaper Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae Griffith University: Griffith Research Online Marine and Freshwater Research 72 9 1251 1267 |
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Open Polar |
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Griffith University: Griffith Research Online |
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ftgriffithuniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Biological oceanography Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) |
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Biological oceanography Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) McCulloch, S Meynecke, JO Franklin, T Franklin, W Chauvenet, ALM Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) behaviour determines habitat use in two Australian bays |
topic_facet |
Biological oceanography Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) |
description |
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) require a suite of essential habitats during their long migration. Therefore, the identification of critical habitats is important for continuation of their successful recovery. In this study we investigated the behaviours and habitat usage exhibited by humpback whales in two known aggregation sites on the east coast of Australia. Using a combined 5400 humpback whale records collected from Hervey Bay between 1999 and 2009 and from the Gold Coast Bay between 2011 and 2018, we analysed different types of behavioural categories. We found that humpback whales in Hervey Bay primarily exhibited surface travel and non-aggressive social behaviour, whereas both sites appeared to be similarly important for resting. Our results suggest that the Gold Coast Bay provides habitat for a wide range of critical humpback whale activities, in particular for resting mother-calf pairs, mature males seeking copulation and socialising immature whales. Hervey Bay had a higher number of mother-calf pair sightings, confirming the area as an important resting site. This study demonstrates that the two regions are critical habitats for humpback whales during their annual migration, but for different essential activities, and should be considered as a whale protection area. Full Text |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McCulloch, S Meynecke, JO Franklin, T Franklin, W Chauvenet, ALM |
author_facet |
McCulloch, S Meynecke, JO Franklin, T Franklin, W Chauvenet, ALM |
author_sort |
McCulloch, S |
title |
Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) behaviour determines habitat use in two Australian bays |
title_short |
Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) behaviour determines habitat use in two Australian bays |
title_full |
Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) behaviour determines habitat use in two Australian bays |
title_fullStr |
Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) behaviour determines habitat use in two Australian bays |
title_full_unstemmed |
Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) behaviour determines habitat use in two Australian bays |
title_sort |
humpback whale (megaptera novaeangliae) behaviour determines habitat use in two australian bays |
publisher |
CSIRO Publishing |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10072/404056 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF21065 |
genre |
Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
genre_facet |
Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
op_relation |
Marine and Freshwater Research McCulloch, S; Meynecke, JO; Franklin, T; Franklin, W; Chauvenet, ALM, Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) behaviour determines habitat use in two Australian bays, Marine and Freshwater Research, 2021, 72 (9), pp. 1251-1267 http://hdl.handle.net/10072/404056 1323-1650 doi:10.1071/MF21065 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en_US © CSIRO 2021. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). open access |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1071/MF21065 |
container_title |
Marine and Freshwater Research |
container_volume |
72 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
1251 |
op_container_end_page |
1267 |
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1799481356415139840 |