Deep ocean drivers better explain habitat preferences of sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus than beaked whales in the Bay of Biscay
Abstract Species Distribution Models are commonly used with surface dynamic environmental variables as proxies for prey distribution to characterise marine top predator habitats. For oceanic species that spend lot of time at depth, surface variables might not be relevant to predict deep-dwelling pre...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13546-x |
| _version_ | 1811257968286498816 |
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| author | Auriane Virgili Valentin Teillard Ghislain Dorémus Timothy E. Dunn Sophie Laran Mark Lewis Maite Louzao José Martínez-Cedeira Emeline Pettex Leire Ruiz Camilo Saavedra M. Begoña Santos Olivier Van Canneyt José Antonio Vázquez Bonales Vincent Ridoux |
| author_facet | Auriane Virgili Valentin Teillard Ghislain Dorémus Timothy E. Dunn Sophie Laran Mark Lewis Maite Louzao José Martínez-Cedeira Emeline Pettex Leire Ruiz Camilo Saavedra M. Begoña Santos Olivier Van Canneyt José Antonio Vázquez Bonales Vincent Ridoux |
| author_sort | Auriane Virgili |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Species Distribution Models are commonly used with surface dynamic environmental variables as proxies for prey distribution to characterise marine top predator habitats. For oceanic species that spend lot of time at depth, surface variables might not be relevant to predict deep-dwelling prey distributions. We hypothesised that descriptors of deep-water layers would better predict the deep-diving cetacean distributions than surface variables. We combined static variables and dynamic variables integrated over different depth classes of the water column into Generalised Additive Models to predict the distribution of sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus and beaked whales Ziphiidae in the Bay of Biscay, eastern North Atlantic. We identified which variables best predicted their distribution. Although the highest densities of both taxa were predicted near the continental slope and canyons, the most important variables for beaked whales appeared to be static variables and surface to subsurface dynamic variables, while for sperm whales only surface and deep-water variables were selected. This could suggest differences in foraging strategies and in the prey targeted between the two taxa. Increasing the use of variables describing the deep-water layers would provide a better understanding of the oceanic species distribution and better assist in the planning of human activities in these habitats. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T18:06:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0a404091e459405cb34aff9ff8c151fd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T18:06:51Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-0a404091e459405cb34aff9ff8c151fd2022-12-22T03:21:58ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222022-06-0112111310.1038/s41598-022-13546-xDeep ocean drivers better explain habitat preferences of sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus than beaked whales in the Bay of BiscayAuriane Virgili0Valentin Teillard1Ghislain Dorémus2Timothy E. Dunn3Sophie Laran4Mark Lewis5Maite Louzao6José Martínez-Cedeira7Emeline Pettex8Leire Ruiz9Camilo Saavedra10M. Begoña Santos11Olivier Van Canneyt12José Antonio Vázquez Bonales13Vincent Ridoux14Observatoire Pelagis, UAR 3462 CNRS - La Rochelle UniversitéObservatoire Pelagis, UAR 3462 CNRS - La Rochelle UniversitéObservatoire Pelagis, UAR 3462 CNRS - La Rochelle UniversitéJoint Nature Conservation Committee, Inverdee HouseObservatoire Pelagis, UAR 3462 CNRS - La Rochelle UniversitéJoint Nature Conservation Committee, Inverdee HouseAZTI, Marine Research, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA)CEMMACohabys - ADERA, La Rochelle UniversitéAMBAR Elkartea OrganisationInstituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de VigoInstituto Español de Oceanografía, Centro Oceanográfico de VigoObservatoire Pelagis, UAR 3462 CNRS - La Rochelle UniversitéAlnilam Research and ConservationObservatoire Pelagis, UAR 3462 CNRS - La Rochelle UniversitéAbstract Species Distribution Models are commonly used with surface dynamic environmental variables as proxies for prey distribution to characterise marine top predator habitats. For oceanic species that spend lot of time at depth, surface variables might not be relevant to predict deep-dwelling prey distributions. We hypothesised that descriptors of deep-water layers would better predict the deep-diving cetacean distributions than surface variables. We combined static variables and dynamic variables integrated over different depth classes of the water column into Generalised Additive Models to predict the distribution of sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus and beaked whales Ziphiidae in the Bay of Biscay, eastern North Atlantic. We identified which variables best predicted their distribution. Although the highest densities of both taxa were predicted near the continental slope and canyons, the most important variables for beaked whales appeared to be static variables and surface to subsurface dynamic variables, while for sperm whales only surface and deep-water variables were selected. This could suggest differences in foraging strategies and in the prey targeted between the two taxa. Increasing the use of variables describing the deep-water layers would provide a better understanding of the oceanic species distribution and better assist in the planning of human activities in these habitats.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13546-x |
| spellingShingle | Auriane Virgili Valentin Teillard Ghislain Dorémus Timothy E. Dunn Sophie Laran Mark Lewis Maite Louzao José Martínez-Cedeira Emeline Pettex Leire Ruiz Camilo Saavedra M. Begoña Santos Olivier Van Canneyt José Antonio Vázquez Bonales Vincent Ridoux Deep ocean drivers better explain habitat preferences of sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus than beaked whales in the Bay of Biscay Scientific Reports |
| title | Deep ocean drivers better explain habitat preferences of sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus than beaked whales in the Bay of Biscay |
| title_full | Deep ocean drivers better explain habitat preferences of sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus than beaked whales in the Bay of Biscay |
| title_fullStr | Deep ocean drivers better explain habitat preferences of sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus than beaked whales in the Bay of Biscay |
| title_full_unstemmed | Deep ocean drivers better explain habitat preferences of sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus than beaked whales in the Bay of Biscay |
| title_short | Deep ocean drivers better explain habitat preferences of sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus than beaked whales in the Bay of Biscay |
| title_sort | deep ocean drivers better explain habitat preferences of sperm whales physeter macrocephalus than beaked whales in the bay of biscay |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-13546-x |
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