Reproductive capacity of an endangered and recovering population of humpback whales in the Southern Hemisphere
Estimating demographic parameters is essential to assessing the recovery potential of severely depleted populations of marine mammal species such as the baleen whales, which were decimated by commercial whaling of the past century. The Oceania humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae population is clas...
Published in: | Marine Ecology Progress Series |
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2020
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ftleibnizopen:oai:oai.leibnizopen.de:KkmdqIgBdbrxVwz6VGXt 2023-07-02T03:30:29+02:00 Reproductive capacity of an endangered and recovering population of humpback whales in the Southern Hemisphere Chero, Guillaume Pradel, Roger Derville, Solène Bonneville, Claire Gimenez, Olivier Garrigue, Claire 2020 https://repository.publisso.de/resource/frl:6426549 https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13329 https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v643/p219-227/ eng eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Marine ecology progress series, 643:219-227 Calving rate New Caledonia Humpback whales Calving interval Recovery Sexual maturity Pacific population 2020 ftleibnizopen https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13329 2023-06-11T23:39:15Z Estimating demographic parameters is essential to assessing the recovery potential of severely depleted populations of marine mammal species such as the baleen whales, which were decimated by commercial whaling of the past century. The Oceania humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae population is classified as endangered by the IUCN because of low numbers and a slow recovery rate. Nevertheless, an anomalously strong increase has recently been detected in the New Caledonia breeding population. To determine the drivers of population growth, reproductive parameters were estimated for the first time for a humpback whale population of Oceania. Based on an extensive monitoring program (1995-2018), recapture histories were reconstructed for 607 females and incorporated in multi-event capture-recapture models. As the females’ ages were generally unknown (87%), 2 models with contrasting age scenarios were investigated. For females of unknown age, the mature scenario assumed maturity at the first encounter, while the immature scenario assumed immaturity within 7 yr after the first encounter, unless the female was encountered breeding. These models respectively resulted in a calving interval of 1.49 yr (95% CI: 1.21-2.08) or 2.83 yr (95% CI: 2.28-3.56) and a calving rate of 0.67 or 0.35. The relatively high calving rate modelled by the mature model is consistent with high pregnancy rates recently observed in the migratory corridors of the Kermadec Islands and on the feeding grounds of the Antarctic Peninsula. Therefore, our results suggest that the recovery of the New Caledonia humpback whale population from past exploitation may be partially driven by an increased reproductive capacity. Other/Unknown Material Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula baleen whales Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae LeibnizOpen (The Leibniz Association) Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Pacific Marine Ecology Progress Series 643 219 227 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
LeibnizOpen (The Leibniz Association) |
op_collection_id |
ftleibnizopen |
language |
English |
topic |
Calving rate New Caledonia Humpback whales Calving interval Recovery Sexual maturity Pacific population |
spellingShingle |
Calving rate New Caledonia Humpback whales Calving interval Recovery Sexual maturity Pacific population Chero, Guillaume Pradel, Roger Derville, Solène Bonneville, Claire Gimenez, Olivier Garrigue, Claire Reproductive capacity of an endangered and recovering population of humpback whales in the Southern Hemisphere |
topic_facet |
Calving rate New Caledonia Humpback whales Calving interval Recovery Sexual maturity Pacific population |
description |
Estimating demographic parameters is essential to assessing the recovery potential of severely depleted populations of marine mammal species such as the baleen whales, which were decimated by commercial whaling of the past century. The Oceania humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae population is classified as endangered by the IUCN because of low numbers and a slow recovery rate. Nevertheless, an anomalously strong increase has recently been detected in the New Caledonia breeding population. To determine the drivers of population growth, reproductive parameters were estimated for the first time for a humpback whale population of Oceania. Based on an extensive monitoring program (1995-2018), recapture histories were reconstructed for 607 females and incorporated in multi-event capture-recapture models. As the females’ ages were generally unknown (87%), 2 models with contrasting age scenarios were investigated. For females of unknown age, the mature scenario assumed maturity at the first encounter, while the immature scenario assumed immaturity within 7 yr after the first encounter, unless the female was encountered breeding. These models respectively resulted in a calving interval of 1.49 yr (95% CI: 1.21-2.08) or 2.83 yr (95% CI: 2.28-3.56) and a calving rate of 0.67 or 0.35. The relatively high calving rate modelled by the mature model is consistent with high pregnancy rates recently observed in the migratory corridors of the Kermadec Islands and on the feeding grounds of the Antarctic Peninsula. Therefore, our results suggest that the recovery of the New Caledonia humpback whale population from past exploitation may be partially driven by an increased reproductive capacity. |
author |
Chero, Guillaume Pradel, Roger Derville, Solène Bonneville, Claire Gimenez, Olivier Garrigue, Claire |
author_facet |
Chero, Guillaume Pradel, Roger Derville, Solène Bonneville, Claire Gimenez, Olivier Garrigue, Claire |
author_sort |
Chero, Guillaume |
title |
Reproductive capacity of an endangered and recovering population of humpback whales in the Southern Hemisphere |
title_short |
Reproductive capacity of an endangered and recovering population of humpback whales in the Southern Hemisphere |
title_full |
Reproductive capacity of an endangered and recovering population of humpback whales in the Southern Hemisphere |
title_fullStr |
Reproductive capacity of an endangered and recovering population of humpback whales in the Southern Hemisphere |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reproductive capacity of an endangered and recovering population of humpback whales in the Southern Hemisphere |
title_sort |
reproductive capacity of an endangered and recovering population of humpback whales in the southern hemisphere |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://repository.publisso.de/resource/frl:6426549 https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13329 https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v643/p219-227/ |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Pacific |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula baleen whales Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula baleen whales Humpback Whale Megaptera novaeangliae |
op_source |
Marine ecology progress series, 643:219-227 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13329 |
container_title |
Marine Ecology Progress Series |
container_volume |
643 |
container_start_page |
219 |
op_container_end_page |
227 |
_version_ |
1770274677833334784 |