Modeling the potential distribution and richness of cetaceans in the Azores from Fisheries Observer Program data
Date
2016-10-18Author
Tobeña Morcillo, Marta
Concept link
Prieto, Rui
Concept link
Machete, Miguel
Concept link
Silva, Monica A.
Concept link
Metadata
Show full item recordCitable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/8764As published
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2016.00202DOI
10.3389/fmars.2016.00202Keyword
Cetacean; Spatio-temporal distribution; Azores; Species distribution models (SDMs); Richness; MaxEntAbstract
Marine spatial planning and ecological research call for high-resolution species distribution data. However, those data are still not available for most marine large vertebrates. The dynamic nature of oceanographic processes and the wide-ranging behavior of many marine vertebrates create further difficulties, as distribution data must incorporate both the spatial and temporal dimensions. Cetaceans play an essential role in structuring and maintaining marine ecosystems and face increasing threats from human activities. The Azores holds a high diversity of cetaceans but the information about spatial and temporal patterns of distribution for this marine megafauna group in the region is still very limited. To tackle this issue, we created monthly predictive cetacean distribution maps for spring and summer months, using data collected by the Azores Fisheries Observer Programme between 2004 and 2009. We then combined the individual predictive maps to obtain species richness maps for the same period. Our results reflect a great heterogeneity in distribution among species and within species among different months. This heterogeneity reflects a contrasting influence of oceanographic processes on the distribution of cetacean species. However, some persistent areas of increased species richness could also be identified from our results. We argue that policies aimed at effectively protecting cetaceans and their habitats must include the principle of dynamic ocean management coupled with other area-based management such as marine spatial planning.
Description
© The Author(s), 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Frontiers in Marine Science 2 (2016): 202, doi:10.3389/fmars.2016.00202.
Collections
Suggested Citation
Frontiers in Marine Science 2 (2016): 202The following license files are associated with this item:
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Spatial and temporal distribution of cetaceans in the mid-Atlantic waters around the Azores
Silva, Monica A.; Prieto, Rui; Cascao, Irma; Seabra, Maria I.; Machete, Miguel; Baumgartner, Mark F.; Santos, Ricardo S. (2013-02)Cetaceans living in offshore waters are under increasing pressure from anthropogenic activities. Yet, due to the lack of survey effort, relatively little is known about the demography or ecology of these populations. ... -
Techniques for cetacean–habitat modeling
Redfern, J. V.; Ferguson, M. C.; Becker, E. A.; Hyrenbach, K. D.; Good, Caroline P.; Barlow, Jay; Kaschner, K.; Baumgartner, Mark F.; Forney, K. A.; Ballance, L. T.; Fauchald, P.; Halpin, Patrick N.; Hamazaki, T.; Pershing, Andrew J.; Qian, Song S.; Read, Andrew J.; Reilly, S. B.; Torres, Leigh; Werner, Francisco E. (Inter-Research, 2006-04-03)Cetacean–habitat modeling, although still in the early stages of development, represents a potentially powerful tool for predicting cetacean distributions and understanding the ecological processes determining these ... -
K-distribution fading models for Bayesian estimation of an underwater acoustic channel
Laferriere, Alison Beth (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 2011-02)Current underwater acoustic channel estimation techniques generally apply linear MMSE estimation. This approach is optimal in a mean square error sense under the assumption that the impulse response fluctuations are well ...