Expert elicitation of seasonal abundance of North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis in the mid-Atlantic
North Atlantic right whales ( Eubalaena glacialis henceforth right whales) are among the most endangered large whales. Although protected since 1935, their abundance has remained low. Right whales occupy the Atlantic Ocean from southern Greenland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence south to Florida. The hi...
Published in: | Endangered Species Research |
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Main Authors: | , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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2015
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Online Access: | https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/expert-elicitation-of-seasonal-abundance-of-north-atlantic-right-whales-eubalaena-glacialis-in-the-midatlantic(d71982c8-94c3-490a-a2cc-8bb09a992284).html https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00699 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/7921/1/Oedekoven_ESR_29_Expert_CCBY.pdf |
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ftunstandrewcris:oai:risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk:publications/d71982c8-94c3-490a-a2cc-8bb09a992284 2023-05-15T16:08:16+02:00 Expert elicitation of seasonal abundance of North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis in the mid-Atlantic Oedekoven, Cornelia Sabrina Fleishman, Erica Hamilton, Philip Clark, James S. Schick, Robert Schilling 2015 application/pdf https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/expert-elicitation-of-seasonal-abundance-of-north-atlantic-right-whales-eubalaena-glacialis-in-the-midatlantic(d71982c8-94c3-490a-a2cc-8bb09a992284).html https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00699 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/7921/1/Oedekoven_ESR_29_Expert_CCBY.pdf eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Oedekoven , C S , Fleishman , E , Hamilton , P , Clark , J S & Schick , R S 2015 , ' Expert elicitation of seasonal abundance of North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis in the mid-Atlantic ' , Endangered Species Research , vol. 29 , no. 1 , pp. 51-58 . https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00699 Merged distributions Migratory corridor Survival Triangular distributions Weighting estimates article 2015 ftunstandrewcris https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00699 2022-06-02T07:45:13Z North Atlantic right whales ( Eubalaena glacialis henceforth right whales) are among the most endangered large whales. Although protected since 1935, their abundance has remained low. Right whales occupy the Atlantic Ocean from southern Greenland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence south to Florida. The highly industrialized mid-Atlantic region is part of the species’ migratory corridor. Gaps in knowledge of the species’ movements through the mid-Atlantic limit informed management of stressors to the species. To contribute to filling of these gaps, we elicited estimates of the relative abundance of adult right whales in the mid-Atlantic during four months, representing each season, from ten experts. We elicited the minimum, maximum, and mode as the number of individuals in a hypothetical population of 100 right whales, and confidence estimates as percentages. For each month-sex combination, we merged the ten experts’ answers into one distribution. The estimated modes of relative abundances of both sexes were highest in January and April (females, 29 and 59; males, 22 and 23) and lowest in July and October (females, five and nine; males, three and five). In some cases, our elicitation results were consistent with the results of studies based on sightings data. However, these studies generally did not adjust for sampling effort, which was low and likely variable. Our results supplement the results of these studies and will increase the accuracy of priors in complementary Bayesian models of right whale abundances and movements through the mid-Atlantic. Article in Journal/Newspaper Eubalaena glacialis Greenland North Atlantic University of St Andrews: Research Portal Greenland Endangered Species Research 29 1 51 58 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of St Andrews: Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftunstandrewcris |
language |
English |
topic |
Merged distributions Migratory corridor Survival Triangular distributions Weighting estimates |
spellingShingle |
Merged distributions Migratory corridor Survival Triangular distributions Weighting estimates Oedekoven, Cornelia Sabrina Fleishman, Erica Hamilton, Philip Clark, James S. Schick, Robert Schilling Expert elicitation of seasonal abundance of North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis in the mid-Atlantic |
topic_facet |
Merged distributions Migratory corridor Survival Triangular distributions Weighting estimates |
description |
North Atlantic right whales ( Eubalaena glacialis henceforth right whales) are among the most endangered large whales. Although protected since 1935, their abundance has remained low. Right whales occupy the Atlantic Ocean from southern Greenland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence south to Florida. The highly industrialized mid-Atlantic region is part of the species’ migratory corridor. Gaps in knowledge of the species’ movements through the mid-Atlantic limit informed management of stressors to the species. To contribute to filling of these gaps, we elicited estimates of the relative abundance of adult right whales in the mid-Atlantic during four months, representing each season, from ten experts. We elicited the minimum, maximum, and mode as the number of individuals in a hypothetical population of 100 right whales, and confidence estimates as percentages. For each month-sex combination, we merged the ten experts’ answers into one distribution. The estimated modes of relative abundances of both sexes were highest in January and April (females, 29 and 59; males, 22 and 23) and lowest in July and October (females, five and nine; males, three and five). In some cases, our elicitation results were consistent with the results of studies based on sightings data. However, these studies generally did not adjust for sampling effort, which was low and likely variable. Our results supplement the results of these studies and will increase the accuracy of priors in complementary Bayesian models of right whale abundances and movements through the mid-Atlantic. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Oedekoven, Cornelia Sabrina Fleishman, Erica Hamilton, Philip Clark, James S. Schick, Robert Schilling |
author_facet |
Oedekoven, Cornelia Sabrina Fleishman, Erica Hamilton, Philip Clark, James S. Schick, Robert Schilling |
author_sort |
Oedekoven, Cornelia Sabrina |
title |
Expert elicitation of seasonal abundance of North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis in the mid-Atlantic |
title_short |
Expert elicitation of seasonal abundance of North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis in the mid-Atlantic |
title_full |
Expert elicitation of seasonal abundance of North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis in the mid-Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Expert elicitation of seasonal abundance of North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis in the mid-Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Expert elicitation of seasonal abundance of North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis in the mid-Atlantic |
title_sort |
expert elicitation of seasonal abundance of north atlantic right whales eubalaena glacialis in the mid-atlantic |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://risweb.st-andrews.ac.uk/portal/en/researchoutput/expert-elicitation-of-seasonal-abundance-of-north-atlantic-right-whales-eubalaena-glacialis-in-the-midatlantic(d71982c8-94c3-490a-a2cc-8bb09a992284).html https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00699 https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/10023/7921/1/Oedekoven_ESR_29_Expert_CCBY.pdf |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Eubalaena glacialis Greenland North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Eubalaena glacialis Greenland North Atlantic |
op_source |
Oedekoven , C S , Fleishman , E , Hamilton , P , Clark , J S & Schick , R S 2015 , ' Expert elicitation of seasonal abundance of North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis in the mid-Atlantic ' , Endangered Species Research , vol. 29 , no. 1 , pp. 51-58 . https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00699 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00699 |
container_title |
Endangered Species Research |
container_volume |
29 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
51 |
op_container_end_page |
58 |
_version_ |
1766404332828229632 |