Gauging allowable harm limits to cumulative, sub-lethal effects of human activities on wildlife:a case-study approach using two whale populations
As sublethal human pressures on marine wildlife and their habitats increase and interact in complex ways, there is a pressing need for methods to quantify cumulative impacts of these stressors on populations, and policy decisions about allowable harm limits. Few studies quantify population consequen...
Published in: | Marine Policy |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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2016
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Online Access: | https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/gauging-allowable-harm-limits-to-cumulative-sublethal-effects-of-human-activities-on-wildlife(ecc911c7-726b-4cb0-96df-512442560c27).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2016.04.023 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/8716/1/Williams_2016_HarmLimits_MP_CC.pdf |
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ftunstandrewcris:oai:research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk:publications/ecc911c7-726b-4cb0-96df-512442560c27 2024-06-23T07:54:22+00:00 Gauging allowable harm limits to cumulative, sub-lethal effects of human activities on wildlife:a case-study approach using two whale populations Williams, Rob Thomas, Len Ashe, Erin Clark, Christopher W. Hammond, Philip S. 2016-08 application/pdf https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/gauging-allowable-harm-limits-to-cumulative-sublethal-effects-of-human-activities-on-wildlife(ecc911c7-726b-4cb0-96df-512442560c27).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2016.04.023 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/8716/1/Williams_2016_HarmLimits_MP_CC.pdf eng eng https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/gauging-allowable-harm-limits-to-cumulative-sublethal-effects-of-human-activities-on-wildlife(ecc911c7-726b-4cb0-96df-512442560c27).html info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Williams , R , Thomas , L , Ashe , E , Clark , C W & Hammond , P S 2016 , ' Gauging allowable harm limits to cumulative, sub-lethal effects of human activities on wildlife : a case-study approach using two whale populations ' , Marine Policy , vol. 70 , pp. 58-64 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2016.04.023 Allowable harm limits Cumulative impact Industrialization Marine mammal Ocean Population dynamics Whale article 2016 ftunstandrewcris https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2016.04.023 2024-06-13T00:51:34Z As sublethal human pressures on marine wildlife and their habitats increase and interact in complex ways, there is a pressing need for methods to quantify cumulative impacts of these stressors on populations, and policy decisions about allowable harm limits. Few studies quantify population consequences of individual stressors, and fewer quantify synergistic effects. Incorporating all sources of uncertainty can cause predictions to span the range from negligible to catastrophic. Two places were identified to bound this problem through energetic mechanisms that reduce prey available to individuals. First, the US Marine Mammal Protection Act's Potential Biological Removal (PBR) equation was used as a placeholder allowable harm limit to represent the number of animals that can be removed annually without depleting a population below agreed-upon management targets. That rephrased the research question from, “How big could cumulative impacts be?” to “How big would cumulative impacts have to be to exceed an agreed-upon threshold?” Secondly, two data-rich case studies, namely Gulf of Maine humpback and northeast Pacific resident killer whales, were used as examples to parameterize the weakest link, namely between prey availability and demography. Given no additional information, the model predicted that human activities need only reduce prey available to the killer whale population by ~10% to cause a population-level take, through reduced fecundity and/or survival, equivalent to PBR. By contrast, in the humpback population, reduction in prey availability of ~50% was needed to cause a similar, PBR-sized effect. The paper describes an approach – results are merely illustrative. The two case studies differ in prey specialization, life history, and, no doubt, proximity to carrying capacity. This method of inverting the problem refocuses discussions around what the level of prey depletion – via competition with commercial fisheries, displacement from feeding areas through noise-generating activities, or acoustic masking of ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Killer Whale Killer whale University of St Andrews: Research Portal Pacific Marine Policy 70 58 64 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of St Andrews: Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftunstandrewcris |
language |
English |
topic |
Allowable harm limits Cumulative impact Industrialization Marine mammal Ocean Population dynamics Whale |
spellingShingle |
Allowable harm limits Cumulative impact Industrialization Marine mammal Ocean Population dynamics Whale Williams, Rob Thomas, Len Ashe, Erin Clark, Christopher W. Hammond, Philip S. Gauging allowable harm limits to cumulative, sub-lethal effects of human activities on wildlife:a case-study approach using two whale populations |
topic_facet |
Allowable harm limits Cumulative impact Industrialization Marine mammal Ocean Population dynamics Whale |
description |
As sublethal human pressures on marine wildlife and their habitats increase and interact in complex ways, there is a pressing need for methods to quantify cumulative impacts of these stressors on populations, and policy decisions about allowable harm limits. Few studies quantify population consequences of individual stressors, and fewer quantify synergistic effects. Incorporating all sources of uncertainty can cause predictions to span the range from negligible to catastrophic. Two places were identified to bound this problem through energetic mechanisms that reduce prey available to individuals. First, the US Marine Mammal Protection Act's Potential Biological Removal (PBR) equation was used as a placeholder allowable harm limit to represent the number of animals that can be removed annually without depleting a population below agreed-upon management targets. That rephrased the research question from, “How big could cumulative impacts be?” to “How big would cumulative impacts have to be to exceed an agreed-upon threshold?” Secondly, two data-rich case studies, namely Gulf of Maine humpback and northeast Pacific resident killer whales, were used as examples to parameterize the weakest link, namely between prey availability and demography. Given no additional information, the model predicted that human activities need only reduce prey available to the killer whale population by ~10% to cause a population-level take, through reduced fecundity and/or survival, equivalent to PBR. By contrast, in the humpback population, reduction in prey availability of ~50% was needed to cause a similar, PBR-sized effect. The paper describes an approach – results are merely illustrative. The two case studies differ in prey specialization, life history, and, no doubt, proximity to carrying capacity. This method of inverting the problem refocuses discussions around what the level of prey depletion – via competition with commercial fisheries, displacement from feeding areas through noise-generating activities, or acoustic masking of ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Williams, Rob Thomas, Len Ashe, Erin Clark, Christopher W. Hammond, Philip S. |
author_facet |
Williams, Rob Thomas, Len Ashe, Erin Clark, Christopher W. Hammond, Philip S. |
author_sort |
Williams, Rob |
title |
Gauging allowable harm limits to cumulative, sub-lethal effects of human activities on wildlife:a case-study approach using two whale populations |
title_short |
Gauging allowable harm limits to cumulative, sub-lethal effects of human activities on wildlife:a case-study approach using two whale populations |
title_full |
Gauging allowable harm limits to cumulative, sub-lethal effects of human activities on wildlife:a case-study approach using two whale populations |
title_fullStr |
Gauging allowable harm limits to cumulative, sub-lethal effects of human activities on wildlife:a case-study approach using two whale populations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Gauging allowable harm limits to cumulative, sub-lethal effects of human activities on wildlife:a case-study approach using two whale populations |
title_sort |
gauging allowable harm limits to cumulative, sub-lethal effects of human activities on wildlife:a case-study approach using two whale populations |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/gauging-allowable-harm-limits-to-cumulative-sublethal-effects-of-human-activities-on-wildlife(ecc911c7-726b-4cb0-96df-512442560c27).html https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2016.04.023 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/8716/1/Williams_2016_HarmLimits_MP_CC.pdf |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
Killer Whale Killer whale |
genre_facet |
Killer Whale Killer whale |
op_source |
Williams , R , Thomas , L , Ashe , E , Clark , C W & Hammond , P S 2016 , ' Gauging allowable harm limits to cumulative, sub-lethal effects of human activities on wildlife : a case-study approach using two whale populations ' , Marine Policy , vol. 70 , pp. 58-64 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2016.04.023 |
op_relation |
https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/en/researchoutput/gauging-allowable-harm-limits-to-cumulative-sublethal-effects-of-human-activities-on-wildlife(ecc911c7-726b-4cb0-96df-512442560c27).html |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2016.04.023 |
container_title |
Marine Policy |
container_volume |
70 |
container_start_page |
58 |
op_container_end_page |
64 |
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1802646516953776128 |