Spatiotemporal analysis in white-beaked dolphin strandings along the North Sea coast from 1991-2017
Spatiotemporal analysis in white-beaked dolphin strandings along the North Sea coast from 1991-2017
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1991-2017年北海沿岸白喙海豚搁浅时空分析
DOI：
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发表时间：
2018
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
M. T. Doeschate
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
L. IJsseldijk;A. Brownlow;N. Davison;R. Deaville;J. Haelters;G. Keijl;U. Siebert;M. T. Doeschate
白喙海豚 (Lagenorhynchus albirostris) 是北海的特有物种，估计数量约为 36,000 只。最近，自然资源保护主义者对气候变化导致水温升高表示担忧，这可能导致白喙海豚栖息地某些地区的种群数量下降。在这里，我们以白喙海豚的搁浅频率作为分布指标，调查近27年（1991-2017）北海西南部搁浅频率是否存在时空格局和变化。总共记录了 407 起搁浅事件，从这一时期搁浅动物的分布情况来看，早期南部国家的动物密度较高，最近西北地区的密度略有增加。这可能是栖息地利用和人口分布从南部地区到北部地区发生变化的第一个迹象。对观察到的变化的一个可能解释是气候变化及其对猎物分布和可用性的影响。这项研究强调了利用搁浅记录作为收集高分辨率时空数据的潜力，使其成为评估物种分布和丰度的活体动物调查的宝贵补充。对死亡原因、生活史和饮食参数（所有这些目前对于该物种来说基本上未知）等指标的进一步研究将为评估更详细的种群状况指标提供受欢迎的贡献。
The white-beaked dolphin (Lagenorhynchus albirostris) is an endemic species in the North Sea with an estimated population of around 36,000 individuals. Recently, concerns have been raised among conservationists regarding increasing water temperatures as a result of climate change, which could result in a decline in population numbers in certain areas of the white-beaked dolphin’s range. Here we use stranding frequencies of white-beaked dolphins as an indicator of distribution and investigate whether there have been spatiotemporal patterns and changes in stranding frequencies in the south western North Sea in the last 27 years (1991-2017). A total of 407 strandings was recorded and the distribution of stranded animals throughout this period revealed a higher density of animals in the southern countries in earlier years, with slightly increased densities in the north western area more recently. This could be a first indication of a change in habitat use and population distribution from southern to northern regions. A potential explanation for the observed shift is climate change and its effect on prey distribution and availability. This study highlights the potential of using stranding records as a way to collect high resolution spatiotemporal data, making this a valuable addition to surveys of live animals assessing species distribution and abundance. Additional research into metrics such as causes of mortality, life history and diet parameters (all of which are currently largely unknown for this species) would provide a welcome contribution to assess more detailed measures of the status of the population.