Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland
In April 2006, a dedicated survey of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) was conducted on the former whaling ground in West Greenland to determine the current wintering population abundance. This effort included a double platform aerial survey design, satellite tracking of the movements of nine whal...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:2396189 2023-05-15T15:35:59+02:00 Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter Laidre, Kristin Borchers, David Samarra, Filipa Stern, Harry 2007-08-07 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2396189 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17686750 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310 en eng The Royal Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2396189 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17686750 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310 © 2007 The Royal Society Research Article Text 2007 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310 2013-09-01T22:47:01Z In April 2006, a dedicated survey of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) was conducted on the former whaling ground in West Greenland to determine the current wintering population abundance. This effort included a double platform aerial survey design, satellite tracking of the movements of nine whales, and estimation of high-resolution surface time from 14 whales instrumented with time–depth recorders. Bowhead whales were estimated to spend an average of 24% (cv=0.03) of the time at or above 2 m depth, the maximum depth at which they can be seen on the trackline. This resulted in a fully corrected abundance estimate of 1229 (95% CI: 495–2939) bowhead whales when the availability factor was applied and sightings missed by observers were corrected. This surprisingly large population estimate is puzzling given that the change in abundance cannot be explained by a recent or rapid growth in population size. One possible explanation is that the population, which demonstrates high age and sex segregation, has recently attained a certain threshold size elsewhere, and a higher abundance of mature females appears on the winter and spring feeding ground in West Greenland. This in combination with the latest severe reduction in sea ice facilitating access to coastal areas might explain the surprising increase in bowhead whale abundance in West Greenland. Text Balaena mysticetus bowhead whale Greenland Sea ice PubMed Central (PMC) Greenland Biology Letters 3 5 577 580 |
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Research Article Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter Laidre, Kristin Borchers, David Samarra, Filipa Stern, Harry Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland |
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Research Article |
description |
In April 2006, a dedicated survey of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) was conducted on the former whaling ground in West Greenland to determine the current wintering population abundance. This effort included a double platform aerial survey design, satellite tracking of the movements of nine whales, and estimation of high-resolution surface time from 14 whales instrumented with time–depth recorders. Bowhead whales were estimated to spend an average of 24% (cv=0.03) of the time at or above 2 m depth, the maximum depth at which they can be seen on the trackline. This resulted in a fully corrected abundance estimate of 1229 (95% CI: 495–2939) bowhead whales when the availability factor was applied and sightings missed by observers were corrected. This surprisingly large population estimate is puzzling given that the change in abundance cannot be explained by a recent or rapid growth in population size. One possible explanation is that the population, which demonstrates high age and sex segregation, has recently attained a certain threshold size elsewhere, and a higher abundance of mature females appears on the winter and spring feeding ground in West Greenland. This in combination with the latest severe reduction in sea ice facilitating access to coastal areas might explain the surprising increase in bowhead whale abundance in West Greenland. |
format |
Text |
author |
Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter Laidre, Kristin Borchers, David Samarra, Filipa Stern, Harry |
author_facet |
Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter Laidre, Kristin Borchers, David Samarra, Filipa Stern, Harry |
author_sort |
Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter |
title |
Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland |
title_short |
Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland |
title_full |
Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Increasing abundance of bowhead whales in West Greenland |
title_sort |
increasing abundance of bowhead whales in west greenland |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2396189 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17686750 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Balaena mysticetus bowhead whale Greenland Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Balaena mysticetus bowhead whale Greenland Sea ice |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2396189 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17686750 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310 |
op_rights |
© 2007 The Royal Society |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0310 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
577 |
op_container_end_page |
580 |
_version_ |
1766366326702473216 |