Beached bachelors: An extensive study on the largest recorded sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus mortality event in the North Sea
Between the 8th January and the 25th February 2016, the largest sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus mortality event ever recorded in the North Sea occurred with 30 sperm whales stranding in five countries within six weeks. All sperm whales were immature males. Groups were stratified by size, with the...
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ftunivrotterdam:oai:repub.eur.nl:109792 2023-07-16T04:00:32+02:00 Beached bachelors: An extensive study on the largest recorded sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus mortality event in the North Sea IJsseldijk, L.L. (Lonneke L.) Van Neer, A. (Abbo) Deaville, R. Begeman, L. (Lineke) Bildt, M.W.G. (Marco) van de Brand, J.M.A. (Judith) van den Brownlow, A. (Andrew) Czeck, R. (Richard) Dabin, W. (Willy) Doeschate, M.T. (Mariel ten) Herder, V. (Vanessa) Herr, H. (Helena) IJzer, J. (Jooske) Jauniaux, T. (T.) Jensen, L.F. (Lasse Fast) Jepson, P.D. (Paul D.) Jo, W.K. (Wendy Karen) Lakemeyer, J. (Jan) Lehnert, K. (Kristina) Leopold, M.F. (M.) Osterhaus, A.D.M.E. (Albert) Perkins, M.W. (Matthew W.) Piatkowski, U. (Uwe) Prenger-Berninghoff, E. (Ellen) Pund, R. (Ralf) Wohlsein, P. (Peter) Gröne, A. (Andrea) Siebert, U. (Ursula) 2018-08-01 application/pdf http://repub.eur.nl/pub/109792 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201221 en eng http://repub.eur.nl/pub/109792 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0201221 urn:hdl:1765/109792 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess PLoS ONE vol. 13 no. 8 info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2018 ftunivrotterdam https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201221 2023-06-26T22:15:32Z Between the 8th January and the 25th February 2016, the largest sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus mortality event ever recorded in the North Sea occurred with 30 sperm whales stranding in five countries within six weeks. All sperm whales were immature males. Groups were stratified by size, with the smaller animals stranding in the Netherlands, and the largest in England. The majority (n = 27) of the stranded animals were necropsied and/ or sampled, allowing for an international and comprehensive investigation into this mortality event. The animals were in fair to good nutritional condition and, aside from the pathologies caused by stranding, did not exhibit significant evidence of disease or trauma. Infectious agents were found, including various parasite species, several bacterial and fungal pathogens and a novel alphaherpesvirus. In nine of the sperm whales a variety of marine litter was found. However, none of these findings were considered to have been the primary cause of the stranding event. Potential anthropogenic and environmental factors that may have caused the sperm whales to enter the North Sea were assessed. Once sperm whales enter the North Sea and head south, the water becomes progressively shallower (<40 m), making this region a global hotspot for sperm whale strandings. We conclude that the reasons for sperm whales to enter the southern North Sea are the result of complex interactions of extrinsic environmental factors. As such, these large mortality events seldom have a single ultimate cause and it is only through multidisciplinary, collaborative approaches that potentially multifactorial large-scale stranding events can be effectively investigated. Article in Journal/Newspaper Physeter macrocephalus Sperm whale RePub - Publications from Erasmus University, Rotterdam PLOS ONE 13 8 e0201221 |
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RePub - Publications from Erasmus University, Rotterdam |
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ftunivrotterdam |
language |
English |
description |
Between the 8th January and the 25th February 2016, the largest sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus mortality event ever recorded in the North Sea occurred with 30 sperm whales stranding in five countries within six weeks. All sperm whales were immature males. Groups were stratified by size, with the smaller animals stranding in the Netherlands, and the largest in England. The majority (n = 27) of the stranded animals were necropsied and/ or sampled, allowing for an international and comprehensive investigation into this mortality event. The animals were in fair to good nutritional condition and, aside from the pathologies caused by stranding, did not exhibit significant evidence of disease or trauma. Infectious agents were found, including various parasite species, several bacterial and fungal pathogens and a novel alphaherpesvirus. In nine of the sperm whales a variety of marine litter was found. However, none of these findings were considered to have been the primary cause of the stranding event. Potential anthropogenic and environmental factors that may have caused the sperm whales to enter the North Sea were assessed. Once sperm whales enter the North Sea and head south, the water becomes progressively shallower (<40 m), making this region a global hotspot for sperm whale strandings. We conclude that the reasons for sperm whales to enter the southern North Sea are the result of complex interactions of extrinsic environmental factors. As such, these large mortality events seldom have a single ultimate cause and it is only through multidisciplinary, collaborative approaches that potentially multifactorial large-scale stranding events can be effectively investigated. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
IJsseldijk, L.L. (Lonneke L.) Van Neer, A. (Abbo) Deaville, R. Begeman, L. (Lineke) Bildt, M.W.G. (Marco) van de Brand, J.M.A. (Judith) van den Brownlow, A. (Andrew) Czeck, R. (Richard) Dabin, W. (Willy) Doeschate, M.T. (Mariel ten) Herder, V. (Vanessa) Herr, H. (Helena) IJzer, J. (Jooske) Jauniaux, T. (T.) Jensen, L.F. (Lasse Fast) Jepson, P.D. (Paul D.) Jo, W.K. (Wendy Karen) Lakemeyer, J. (Jan) Lehnert, K. (Kristina) Leopold, M.F. (M.) Osterhaus, A.D.M.E. (Albert) Perkins, M.W. (Matthew W.) Piatkowski, U. (Uwe) Prenger-Berninghoff, E. (Ellen) Pund, R. (Ralf) Wohlsein, P. (Peter) Gröne, A. (Andrea) Siebert, U. (Ursula) |
spellingShingle |
IJsseldijk, L.L. (Lonneke L.) Van Neer, A. (Abbo) Deaville, R. Begeman, L. (Lineke) Bildt, M.W.G. (Marco) van de Brand, J.M.A. (Judith) van den Brownlow, A. (Andrew) Czeck, R. (Richard) Dabin, W. (Willy) Doeschate, M.T. (Mariel ten) Herder, V. (Vanessa) Herr, H. (Helena) IJzer, J. (Jooske) Jauniaux, T. (T.) Jensen, L.F. (Lasse Fast) Jepson, P.D. (Paul D.) Jo, W.K. (Wendy Karen) Lakemeyer, J. (Jan) Lehnert, K. (Kristina) Leopold, M.F. (M.) Osterhaus, A.D.M.E. (Albert) Perkins, M.W. (Matthew W.) Piatkowski, U. (Uwe) Prenger-Berninghoff, E. (Ellen) Pund, R. (Ralf) Wohlsein, P. (Peter) Gröne, A. (Andrea) Siebert, U. (Ursula) Beached bachelors: An extensive study on the largest recorded sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus mortality event in the North Sea |
author_facet |
IJsseldijk, L.L. (Lonneke L.) Van Neer, A. (Abbo) Deaville, R. Begeman, L. (Lineke) Bildt, M.W.G. (Marco) van de Brand, J.M.A. (Judith) van den Brownlow, A. (Andrew) Czeck, R. (Richard) Dabin, W. (Willy) Doeschate, M.T. (Mariel ten) Herder, V. (Vanessa) Herr, H. (Helena) IJzer, J. (Jooske) Jauniaux, T. (T.) Jensen, L.F. (Lasse Fast) Jepson, P.D. (Paul D.) Jo, W.K. (Wendy Karen) Lakemeyer, J. (Jan) Lehnert, K. (Kristina) Leopold, M.F. (M.) Osterhaus, A.D.M.E. (Albert) Perkins, M.W. (Matthew W.) Piatkowski, U. (Uwe) Prenger-Berninghoff, E. (Ellen) Pund, R. (Ralf) Wohlsein, P. (Peter) Gröne, A. (Andrea) Siebert, U. (Ursula) |
author_sort |
IJsseldijk, L.L. (Lonneke L.) |
title |
Beached bachelors: An extensive study on the largest recorded sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus mortality event in the North Sea |
title_short |
Beached bachelors: An extensive study on the largest recorded sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus mortality event in the North Sea |
title_full |
Beached bachelors: An extensive study on the largest recorded sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus mortality event in the North Sea |
title_fullStr |
Beached bachelors: An extensive study on the largest recorded sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus mortality event in the North Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Beached bachelors: An extensive study on the largest recorded sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus mortality event in the North Sea |
title_sort |
beached bachelors: an extensive study on the largest recorded sperm whale physeter macrocephalus mortality event in the north sea |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://repub.eur.nl/pub/109792 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201221 |
genre |
Physeter macrocephalus Sperm whale |
genre_facet |
Physeter macrocephalus Sperm whale |
op_source |
PLoS ONE vol. 13 no. 8 |
op_relation |
http://repub.eur.nl/pub/109792 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0201221 urn:hdl:1765/109792 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201221 |
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PLOS ONE |
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13 |
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8 |
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e0201221 |
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