Spatio-temporal patterns in fin whale Balaenoptera physalus habitat use in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence
Significant ecosystem changes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL), Canada, have had far-reaching effects at all trophic levels. The abundance of fin whales Balaenoptera physalus has declined significantly in the northern GSL over the past decade. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that the observ...
Published in: | Marine Ecology Progress Series |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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2019
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11370/696b959c-9056-4176-8ab6-c805b04b7a6e https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/696b959c-9056-4176-8ab6-c805b04b7a6e https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13020 https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/93642062/Schleimer_et_al._2019_.pdf |
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ftunigroningenpu:oai:pure.rug.nl:publications/696b959c-9056-4176-8ab6-c805b04b7a6e 2024-06-23T07:51:33+00:00 Spatio-temporal patterns in fin whale Balaenoptera physalus habitat use in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence Schleimer, Anna Ramp, Christian Plourde, Stéphane Lehoux, Caroline Sears, Richard Hammond, Philip S. 2019 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11370/696b959c-9056-4176-8ab6-c805b04b7a6e https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/696b959c-9056-4176-8ab6-c805b04b7a6e https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13020 https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/93642062/Schleimer_et_al._2019_.pdf eng eng https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/696b959c-9056-4176-8ab6-c805b04b7a6e info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Schleimer , A , Ramp , C , Plourde , S , Lehoux , C , Sears , R & Hammond , P S 2019 , ' Spatio-temporal patterns in fin whale Balaenoptera physalus habitat use in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence ' , Marine Ecology Progress Series , vol. 623 , pp. 221-234 . https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13020 SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE ATLANTIC RIGHT BALEEN WHALES ABUNDANCE MODELS VARIABILITY SELECTION PREY BAY AGGREGATION article 2019 ftunigroningenpu https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13020 2024-06-10T16:46:54Z Significant ecosystem changes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL), Canada, have had far-reaching effects at all trophic levels. The abundance of fin whales Balaenoptera physalus has declined significantly in the northern GSL over the past decade. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that the observed decline was correlated to changing environmental conditions. Cetacean sightings data from 292 surveys, resulting in 2986 fin whale encounters from 2007 to 2013, were used to fit 2 separate generalised additive models in terms of (1) bathymetric and oceanographic variables (the proxy model) and (2) modelled krill biomass (the prey model). The concept of ‘handling time’ was introduced to correct for time off search effort, applicable to other studies relying on opportunistically sampled data. While a positive correlation between krill biomass and fin whale numbers was found, the performance of the proxy model (24.2% deviance explained) was overall better than the prey model (11.8%). Annual predictive maps derived from the final proxy model highlighted 2 key areas with recurrently high relative fin whale abundance and a significant overlap with shipping lanes. While both models provided evidence for an annual decline in relative fin whale abundance, static bathymetric features were the most important predictors of habitat use, and no correlation between dynamic variables and the decline was found. High resolution prey data and a better understanding of the feeding ecology of fin whales are proposed to further investigate the predator-prey relationship and decline of fin whales in the GSL. Article in Journal/Newspaper Balaenoptera physalus baleen whales Fin whale University of Groningen research database Canada Lanes ENVELOPE(18.933,18.933,69.617,69.617) Marine Ecology Progress Series 623 221 234 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Groningen research database |
op_collection_id |
ftunigroningenpu |
language |
English |
topic |
SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE ATLANTIC RIGHT BALEEN WHALES ABUNDANCE MODELS VARIABILITY SELECTION PREY BAY AGGREGATION |
spellingShingle |
SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE ATLANTIC RIGHT BALEEN WHALES ABUNDANCE MODELS VARIABILITY SELECTION PREY BAY AGGREGATION Schleimer, Anna Ramp, Christian Plourde, Stéphane Lehoux, Caroline Sears, Richard Hammond, Philip S. Spatio-temporal patterns in fin whale Balaenoptera physalus habitat use in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence |
topic_facet |
SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE ATLANTIC RIGHT BALEEN WHALES ABUNDANCE MODELS VARIABILITY SELECTION PREY BAY AGGREGATION |
description |
Significant ecosystem changes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL), Canada, have had far-reaching effects at all trophic levels. The abundance of fin whales Balaenoptera physalus has declined significantly in the northern GSL over the past decade. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that the observed decline was correlated to changing environmental conditions. Cetacean sightings data from 292 surveys, resulting in 2986 fin whale encounters from 2007 to 2013, were used to fit 2 separate generalised additive models in terms of (1) bathymetric and oceanographic variables (the proxy model) and (2) modelled krill biomass (the prey model). The concept of ‘handling time’ was introduced to correct for time off search effort, applicable to other studies relying on opportunistically sampled data. While a positive correlation between krill biomass and fin whale numbers was found, the performance of the proxy model (24.2% deviance explained) was overall better than the prey model (11.8%). Annual predictive maps derived from the final proxy model highlighted 2 key areas with recurrently high relative fin whale abundance and a significant overlap with shipping lanes. While both models provided evidence for an annual decline in relative fin whale abundance, static bathymetric features were the most important predictors of habitat use, and no correlation between dynamic variables and the decline was found. High resolution prey data and a better understanding of the feeding ecology of fin whales are proposed to further investigate the predator-prey relationship and decline of fin whales in the GSL. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Schleimer, Anna Ramp, Christian Plourde, Stéphane Lehoux, Caroline Sears, Richard Hammond, Philip S. |
author_facet |
Schleimer, Anna Ramp, Christian Plourde, Stéphane Lehoux, Caroline Sears, Richard Hammond, Philip S. |
author_sort |
Schleimer, Anna |
title |
Spatio-temporal patterns in fin whale Balaenoptera physalus habitat use in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence |
title_short |
Spatio-temporal patterns in fin whale Balaenoptera physalus habitat use in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence |
title_full |
Spatio-temporal patterns in fin whale Balaenoptera physalus habitat use in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence |
title_fullStr |
Spatio-temporal patterns in fin whale Balaenoptera physalus habitat use in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence |
title_full_unstemmed |
Spatio-temporal patterns in fin whale Balaenoptera physalus habitat use in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence |
title_sort |
spatio-temporal patterns in fin whale balaenoptera physalus habitat use in the northern gulf of st. lawrence |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11370/696b959c-9056-4176-8ab6-c805b04b7a6e https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/696b959c-9056-4176-8ab6-c805b04b7a6e https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13020 https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/93642062/Schleimer_et_al._2019_.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(18.933,18.933,69.617,69.617) |
geographic |
Canada Lanes |
geographic_facet |
Canada Lanes |
genre |
Balaenoptera physalus baleen whales Fin whale |
genre_facet |
Balaenoptera physalus baleen whales Fin whale |
op_source |
Schleimer , A , Ramp , C , Plourde , S , Lehoux , C , Sears , R & Hammond , P S 2019 , ' Spatio-temporal patterns in fin whale Balaenoptera physalus habitat use in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence ' , Marine Ecology Progress Series , vol. 623 , pp. 221-234 . https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13020 |
op_relation |
https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/696b959c-9056-4176-8ab6-c805b04b7a6e |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13020 |
container_title |
Marine Ecology Progress Series |
container_volume |
623 |
container_start_page |
221 |
op_container_end_page |
234 |
_version_ |
1802642660785127424 |