Migratory Movements of Pygmy Blue Whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) between Australia and Indonesia as Revealed by Satellite Telemetry
In Australian waters during the austral summer, pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) occur predictably in two distinct feeding areas off western and southern Australia. As with other blue whale subspecies, outside the austral summer their distribution and movements are poorly underst...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:3981711 2023-05-15T15:36:21+02:00 Migratory Movements of Pygmy Blue Whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) between Australia and Indonesia as Revealed by Satellite Telemetry Double, Michael C. Andrews-Goff, Virginia Jenner, K. Curt S. Jenner, Micheline-Nicole Laverick, Sarah M. Branch, Trevor A. Gales, Nicholas J. 2014-04-09 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3981711 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24718589 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093578 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3981711 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24718589 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093578 This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Research Article Text 2014 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093578 2014-04-13T00:54:48Z In Australian waters during the austral summer, pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) occur predictably in two distinct feeding areas off western and southern Australia. As with other blue whale subspecies, outside the austral summer their distribution and movements are poorly understood. In order to describe the migratory movements of these whales, we present the satellite telemetry derived movements of eleven individuals tagged off western Australia over two years. Whales were tracked from between 8 and 308 days covering an average distance of 3,009±892 km (mean ± se; range: 832 km–14,101 km) at a rate of 21.94±0.74 km per day (0.09 km–455.80 km/day). Whales were tagged during March and April and ultimately migrated northwards post tag deployment with the exception of a single animal which remained in the vicinity of the Perth Canyon/Naturaliste Plateau for its eight day tracking period. The tagged whales travelled relatively near to the Australian coastline (100.0±1.7 km) until reaching a prominent peninsula in the north-west of the state of Western Australia (North West Cape) after which they travelled offshore (238.0±13.9 km). Whales reached the northern terminus of their migration and potential breeding grounds in Indonesian waters by June. One satellite tag relayed intermittent information to describe aspects of the southern migration from Indonesia with the animal departing around September to arrive in the subtropical frontal zone, south of western Australia in December. Throughout their migratory range, these whales are exposed to impacts associated with industry, fishing and vessel traffic. These movements therefore provide a valuable tool to industry when assessing potential interactions with pygmy blue whales and should be considered by conservation managers and regulators when mitigating impacts of development. This is particularly relevant for this species as it continues to recover from past exploitation. Text Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale PubMed Central (PMC) Austral West Cape ENVELOPE(73.283,73.283,-53.033,-53.033) PLoS ONE 9 4 e93578 |
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Open Polar |
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PubMed Central (PMC) |
op_collection_id |
ftpubmed |
language |
English |
topic |
Research Article |
spellingShingle |
Research Article Double, Michael C. Andrews-Goff, Virginia Jenner, K. Curt S. Jenner, Micheline-Nicole Laverick, Sarah M. Branch, Trevor A. Gales, Nicholas J. Migratory Movements of Pygmy Blue Whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) between Australia and Indonesia as Revealed by Satellite Telemetry |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
In Australian waters during the austral summer, pygmy blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) occur predictably in two distinct feeding areas off western and southern Australia. As with other blue whale subspecies, outside the austral summer their distribution and movements are poorly understood. In order to describe the migratory movements of these whales, we present the satellite telemetry derived movements of eleven individuals tagged off western Australia over two years. Whales were tracked from between 8 and 308 days covering an average distance of 3,009±892 km (mean ± se; range: 832 km–14,101 km) at a rate of 21.94±0.74 km per day (0.09 km–455.80 km/day). Whales were tagged during March and April and ultimately migrated northwards post tag deployment with the exception of a single animal which remained in the vicinity of the Perth Canyon/Naturaliste Plateau for its eight day tracking period. The tagged whales travelled relatively near to the Australian coastline (100.0±1.7 km) until reaching a prominent peninsula in the north-west of the state of Western Australia (North West Cape) after which they travelled offshore (238.0±13.9 km). Whales reached the northern terminus of their migration and potential breeding grounds in Indonesian waters by June. One satellite tag relayed intermittent information to describe aspects of the southern migration from Indonesia with the animal departing around September to arrive in the subtropical frontal zone, south of western Australia in December. Throughout their migratory range, these whales are exposed to impacts associated with industry, fishing and vessel traffic. These movements therefore provide a valuable tool to industry when assessing potential interactions with pygmy blue whales and should be considered by conservation managers and regulators when mitigating impacts of development. This is particularly relevant for this species as it continues to recover from past exploitation. |
format |
Text |
author |
Double, Michael C. Andrews-Goff, Virginia Jenner, K. Curt S. Jenner, Micheline-Nicole Laverick, Sarah M. Branch, Trevor A. Gales, Nicholas J. |
author_facet |
Double, Michael C. Andrews-Goff, Virginia Jenner, K. Curt S. Jenner, Micheline-Nicole Laverick, Sarah M. Branch, Trevor A. Gales, Nicholas J. |
author_sort |
Double, Michael C. |
title |
Migratory Movements of Pygmy Blue Whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) between Australia and Indonesia as Revealed by Satellite Telemetry |
title_short |
Migratory Movements of Pygmy Blue Whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) between Australia and Indonesia as Revealed by Satellite Telemetry |
title_full |
Migratory Movements of Pygmy Blue Whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) between Australia and Indonesia as Revealed by Satellite Telemetry |
title_fullStr |
Migratory Movements of Pygmy Blue Whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) between Australia and Indonesia as Revealed by Satellite Telemetry |
title_full_unstemmed |
Migratory Movements of Pygmy Blue Whales (Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) between Australia and Indonesia as Revealed by Satellite Telemetry |
title_sort |
migratory movements of pygmy blue whales (balaenoptera musculus brevicauda) between australia and indonesia as revealed by satellite telemetry |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3981711 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24718589 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093578 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(73.283,73.283,-53.033,-53.033) |
geographic |
Austral West Cape |
geographic_facet |
Austral West Cape |
genre |
Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale |
genre_facet |
Balaenoptera musculus Blue whale |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3981711 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24718589 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093578 |
op_rights |
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093578 |
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PLoS ONE |
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9 |
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4 |
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e93578 |
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