Investigating minke whale acoustic and foraging ecology to underpin MPA-based

苏格兰水域的北大西洋小须鲸面临着各种各样的人为威胁，包括渔业的纠缠、与船只和潮汐涡轮机等近海设备的碰撞风险，以及化学和噪音污染。在整个范围内，该物种还受到全球气候变化造成的大规模生态系统变化的威胁。除了更好地了解该物种的全年分布、生态和行为外，有效的保护还需要对人类对该物种和居住在苏格兰海洋的其他物种的影响进行强有力的量化。为了成功监测和管理最近提出的两个苏格兰小须鲸保护区，迫切需要这些信息。该项目将在现有SAMS-HWDT-MSS合作的基础上，获得来自苏格兰水域的独特的、长期的声学和视觉数据集。这些数据将有助于探索过去20年小须鲸分布的潜在变化，以及所观察到的模式的潜在环境和人为驱动因素。物种分布和栖息地模型将以实地研究为基础，收集关于小须鲸生态的几个方面的新信息。目标1：模拟苏格兰西海岸小须鲸的长期分布模式目标2：调查长期被动声学在苏格兰小须鲸分布和水下噪声影响中的应用目标3：调查小须鲸的潜水、摄食和相关的声学行为目标4：利用无人机(UAVs)量化小须鲸的大小、行为和健康

North Atlantic minke whales in Scottish waters face a diversity of anthropogenic threats, including entanglement in fisheries, collision risk with vessels and offshore devices such as tidal turbines, and chemical and noise pollution. Throughout its range, the species is also threatened by large-scale ecosystem change caused by global climate change. Next to a better understanding of the year-round distribution, ecology, and behaviour of the species, effective conservation requires a robust quantification of human impacts on this and other species inhabiting Scottish seas. Such information is urgently needed for successful monitoring and management of the two Scottish minke whale pMPAs, recently proposed.Building on existing SAMS-HWDT-MSS collaborations, this project will have access to unique, long-term acoustic and visual datasets from Scottish waters. These data will serve to explore potential changes in minke whale distribution across the last two decades and the potential environmental and anthropogenic drivers for observed patterns. Species distribution and habitat models will be underpinned with field studies collecting new information on several aspects of minke whale ecology. Objective 1: Modelling long-term minke whale distribution patterns on the west coast of ScotlandObjective 2: Investigating the use of long-term passive acoustics for monitoring minke whale distribution and underwater noise impacts within Scottish pMPAsObjective 3: Investigating minke whale dive, feeding and associated acoustic behaviourObjective 4: Quantifying minke whale size, behaviour and health using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)