Late summer distribution and abundance of ice-associated whales in the Norwegian High Arctic

The Arctic is experiencing rapid warming, and resultant sea ice losses represent a serious threat to ice-associated species in the region. This study explored the distribution and abundance of the 3 Arctic resident whale species: narwhals, bowhead and white whales, in the marginal ice zone and into...

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Published in:Endangered Species Research
Main Authors: Vacquié-Garcia, Jade, Lydersen, Christian, Marques, Tiago A., Aars, Jon, Ahonen, Heidi, Skern-Mauritzen, Mette, Øien, Nils, Kovacs, Kit M.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/late-summer-distribution-and-abundance-of-iceassociated-whales-in-the-norwegian-high-arctic(84122945-3c08-444d-b86c-7320fb3e7aa1).html
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00791
https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/10595/1/Marques_2017_ESR_Ice_associatedWhales_CC.pdf
id ftunstandrewcris:oai:risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk:publications/84122945-3c08-444d-b86c-7320fb3e7aa1
record_format openpolar
spelling ftunstandrewcris:oai:risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk:publications/84122945-3c08-444d-b86c-7320fb3e7aa1 2023-05-15T14:25:14+02:00 Late summer distribution and abundance of ice-associated whales in the Norwegian High Arctic Vacquié-Garcia, Jade Lydersen, Christian Marques, Tiago A. Aars, Jon Ahonen, Heidi Skern-Mauritzen, Mette Øien, Nils Kovacs, Kit M. 2017-02-07 application/pdf https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/late-summer-distribution-and-abundance-of-iceassociated-whales-in-the-norwegian-high-arctic(84122945-3c08-444d-b86c-7320fb3e7aa1).html https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00791 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/10595/1/Marques_2017_ESR_Ice_associatedWhales_CC.pdf eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Vacquié-Garcia , J , Lydersen , C , Marques , T A , Aars , J , Ahonen , H , Skern-Mauritzen , M , Øien , N & Kovacs , K M 2017 , ' Late summer distribution and abundance of ice-associated whales in the Norwegian High Arctic ' , Endangered Species Research , vol. 32 , pp. 59-70 . https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00791 Abundance Arctic Belugas Bowhead whales Climate change Distribution Narwhals Svalbard White whales article 2017 ftunstandrewcris https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00791 2022-06-02T07:47:19Z The Arctic is experiencing rapid warming, and resultant sea ice losses represent a serious threat to ice-associated species in the region. This study explored the distribution and abundance of the 3 Arctic resident whale species: narwhals, bowhead and white whales, in the marginal ice zone and into the sea ice north of the Svalbard Archipelago. Line-transect surveys were conducted using a combination of helicopter-based and ship-based efforts in August 2015. Twenty-six sightings, involving 27 bowhead whales and 58 narwhals, occurred along the helicopter transects, while no whales were recorded along ship transects. No white whales were observed during these surveys. After correcting for surface availability, distance sampling produced abundance estimates of 343 (CV = 0.488) bowhead whales and 837 (CV = 0.501) narwhals within the 52 919 km(2) study area. Bowhead whales were predominantly seen close to the ice-edge, whereas narwhals were located deeper into the ice. To contextualize these results within the broader Svalbard cetacean community, all whale sightings from the Norwegian Polar Institute's Svalbard Marine Mammal Sighting Data Base, from the period of the survey, were mapped to compare general distributions. These opportunistic sightings included numerous cetacean species, especially seasonally occurring ones. However, white whales dominated in terms of the numbers of individuals reported. Our results suggest little spatial overlap between seasonally occurring whales and the 3 Arctic resident whales. Bowhead whales and narwhals were tightly associated with sea ice, and white whales were tightly coastal. In contrast, the seasonally occurring species were found over the shelf and along its edges. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Beluga* Climate change narwhal* Sea ice Svalbard University of St Andrews: Research Portal Arctic Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago Endangered Species Research 32 59 70
institution Open Polar
collection University of St Andrews: Research Portal
op_collection_id ftunstandrewcris
language English
topic Abundance
Arctic
Belugas
Bowhead whales
Climate change
Distribution
Narwhals
Svalbard
White whales
spellingShingle Abundance
Arctic
Belugas
Bowhead whales
Climate change
Distribution
Narwhals
Svalbard
White whales
Vacquié-Garcia, Jade
Lydersen, Christian
Marques, Tiago A.
Aars, Jon
Ahonen, Heidi
Skern-Mauritzen, Mette
Øien, Nils
Kovacs, Kit M.
Late summer distribution and abundance of ice-associated whales in the Norwegian High Arctic
topic_facet Abundance
Arctic
Belugas
Bowhead whales
Climate change
Distribution
Narwhals
Svalbard
White whales
description The Arctic is experiencing rapid warming, and resultant sea ice losses represent a serious threat to ice-associated species in the region. This study explored the distribution and abundance of the 3 Arctic resident whale species: narwhals, bowhead and white whales, in the marginal ice zone and into the sea ice north of the Svalbard Archipelago. Line-transect surveys were conducted using a combination of helicopter-based and ship-based efforts in August 2015. Twenty-six sightings, involving 27 bowhead whales and 58 narwhals, occurred along the helicopter transects, while no whales were recorded along ship transects. No white whales were observed during these surveys. After correcting for surface availability, distance sampling produced abundance estimates of 343 (CV = 0.488) bowhead whales and 837 (CV = 0.501) narwhals within the 52 919 km(2) study area. Bowhead whales were predominantly seen close to the ice-edge, whereas narwhals were located deeper into the ice. To contextualize these results within the broader Svalbard cetacean community, all whale sightings from the Norwegian Polar Institute's Svalbard Marine Mammal Sighting Data Base, from the period of the survey, were mapped to compare general distributions. These opportunistic sightings included numerous cetacean species, especially seasonally occurring ones. However, white whales dominated in terms of the numbers of individuals reported. Our results suggest little spatial overlap between seasonally occurring whales and the 3 Arctic resident whales. Bowhead whales and narwhals were tightly associated with sea ice, and white whales were tightly coastal. In contrast, the seasonally occurring species were found over the shelf and along its edges.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Vacquié-Garcia, Jade
Lydersen, Christian
Marques, Tiago A.
Aars, Jon
Ahonen, Heidi
Skern-Mauritzen, Mette
Øien, Nils
Kovacs, Kit M.
author_facet Vacquié-Garcia, Jade
Lydersen, Christian
Marques, Tiago A.
Aars, Jon
Ahonen, Heidi
Skern-Mauritzen, Mette
Øien, Nils
Kovacs, Kit M.
author_sort Vacquié-Garcia, Jade
title Late summer distribution and abundance of ice-associated whales in the Norwegian High Arctic
title_short Late summer distribution and abundance of ice-associated whales in the Norwegian High Arctic
title_full Late summer distribution and abundance of ice-associated whales in the Norwegian High Arctic
title_fullStr Late summer distribution and abundance of ice-associated whales in the Norwegian High Arctic
title_full_unstemmed Late summer distribution and abundance of ice-associated whales in the Norwegian High Arctic
title_sort late summer distribution and abundance of ice-associated whales in the norwegian high arctic
publishDate 2017
url https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/late-summer-distribution-and-abundance-of-iceassociated-whales-in-the-norwegian-high-arctic(84122945-3c08-444d-b86c-7320fb3e7aa1).html
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00791
https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/10595/1/Marques_2017_ESR_Ice_associatedWhales_CC.pdf
geographic Arctic
Svalbard
Svalbard Archipelago
geographic_facet Arctic
Svalbard
Svalbard Archipelago
genre Arctic
Arctic
Beluga*
Climate change
narwhal*
Sea ice
Svalbard
genre_facet Arctic
Arctic
Beluga*
Climate change
narwhal*
Sea ice
Svalbard
op_source Vacquié-Garcia , J , Lydersen , C , Marques , T A , Aars , J , Ahonen , H , Skern-Mauritzen , M , Øien , N & Kovacs , K M 2017 , ' Late summer distribution and abundance of ice-associated whales in the Norwegian High Arctic ' , Endangered Species Research , vol. 32 , pp. 59-70 . https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00791
op_rights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
op_doi https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00791
container_title Endangered Species Research
container_volume 32
container_start_page 59
op_container_end_page 70
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