Using Energetic Models to Investigate the Survival and Reproduction of Beaked Whales (family Ziphiidae)

Using Energetic Models to Investigate the Survival and Reproduction of Beaked Whales (family Ziphiidae)

Mass stranding of several species of beaked whales (family Ziphiidae) associated with exposure to anthropogenic sounds has raised concern for the conservation of these species. However, little is known about the species’ life histories, prey or habitat requirements. Without this knowledge, it become...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: New, Leslie F., Moretti, David J., Hooker, Sascha K., Costa, Daniel P., Simmons, Samantha E.
Format: Online
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science 2013
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3714291/
id pubmed-3714291
recordtype oai_dc
spelling pubmed-37142912013-07-19 Using Energetic Models to Investigate the Survival and Reproduction of Beaked Whales (family Ziphiidae) New, Leslie F. Moretti, David J. Hooker, Sascha K. Costa, Daniel P. Simmons, Samantha E. Research Article Mass stranding of several species of beaked whales (family Ziphiidae) associated with exposure to anthropogenic sounds has raised concern for the conservation of these species. However, little is known about the species’ life histories, prey or habitat requirements. Without this knowledge, it becomes difficult to assess the effects of anthropogenic sound, since there is no way to determine whether the disturbance is impacting the species’ physical or environmental requirements. Here we take a bioenergetics approach to address this gap in our knowledge, as the elusive, deep-diving nature of beaked whales has made it hard to study these effects directly. We develop a model for Ziphiidae linking feeding energetics to the species’ requirements for survival and reproduction, since these life history traits would be the most likely to be impacted by non-lethal disturbances. Our models suggest that beaked whale reproduction requires energy dense prey, and that poor resource availability would lead to an extension of the inter-calving interval. Further, given current information, it seems that some beaked whale species require relatively high quality habitat in order to meet their requirements for survival and reproduction. As a result, even a small non-lethal disturbance that results in displacement of whales from preferred habitats could potentially impact a population if a significant proportion of that population was affected. We explored the impact of varying ecological parameters and model assumptions on survival and reproduction, and find that calf and fetus survival appear more readily affected than the survival of adult females. Public Library of Science 2013-07-17 /pmc/articles/PMC3714291/ /pubmed/23874737 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0068725 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Public Domain declaration, which stipulates that, once placed in the public domain, this work may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose.
repository_type Open Access Journal
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building NCBI PubMed
collection Online Access
language English
format Online
author New, Leslie F.
Moretti, David J.
Hooker, Sascha K.
Costa, Daniel P.
Simmons, Samantha E.
spellingShingle New, Leslie F.
Moretti, David J.
Hooker, Sascha K.
Costa, Daniel P.
Simmons, Samantha E.
Using Energetic Models to Investigate the Survival and Reproduction of Beaked Whales (family Ziphiidae)
author_facet New, Leslie F.
Moretti, David J.
Hooker, Sascha K.
Costa, Daniel P.
Simmons, Samantha E.
author_sort New, Leslie F.
title Using Energetic Models to Investigate the Survival and Reproduction of Beaked Whales (family Ziphiidae)
title_short Using Energetic Models to Investigate the Survival and Reproduction of Beaked Whales (family Ziphiidae)
title_full Using Energetic Models to Investigate the Survival and Reproduction of Beaked Whales (family Ziphiidae)
title_fullStr Using Energetic Models to Investigate the Survival and Reproduction of Beaked Whales (family Ziphiidae)
title_full_unstemmed Using Energetic Models to Investigate the Survival and Reproduction of Beaked Whales (family Ziphiidae)
title_sort using energetic models to investigate the survival and reproduction of beaked whales (family ziphiidae)
description Mass stranding of several species of beaked whales (family Ziphiidae) associated with exposure to anthropogenic sounds has raised concern for the conservation of these species. However, little is known about the species’ life histories, prey or habitat requirements. Without this knowledge, it becomes difficult to assess the effects of anthropogenic sound, since there is no way to determine whether the disturbance is impacting the species’ physical or environmental requirements. Here we take a bioenergetics approach to address this gap in our knowledge, as the elusive, deep-diving nature of beaked whales has made it hard to study these effects directly. We develop a model for Ziphiidae linking feeding energetics to the species’ requirements for survival and reproduction, since these life history traits would be the most likely to be impacted by non-lethal disturbances. Our models suggest that beaked whale reproduction requires energy dense prey, and that poor resource availability would lead to an extension of the inter-calving interval. Further, given current information, it seems that some beaked whale species require relatively high quality habitat in order to meet their requirements for survival and reproduction. As a result, even a small non-lethal disturbance that results in displacement of whales from preferred habitats could potentially impact a population if a significant proportion of that population was affected. We explored the impact of varying ecological parameters and model assumptions on survival and reproduction, and find that calf and fetus survival appear more readily affected than the survival of adult females.
publisher Public Library of Science
publishDate 2013
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3714291/
_version_ 1611995693965115392

Similar Items