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- Title
POPULATION DYNAMICS AND DEMOGRAPHY OF HUMPBACK WHALES IN GLACIER BAY AND ICY STRAIT, ALASKA.
- Authors
SARACCO, JAMES F.; GABRIELE, CHRISTINE M.; NEILSON, JANET L.
- Abstract
Standardized sight-resight data of Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Glacier Bay and Icy Strait, Alaska, have been collected since 1985. We applied closed robust design capture-recapture models to these data to provide inferences about: (1) population size; (2) population growth rate; (3) apparent survival rate; and (4) temporary emigration rate in the region during 1985-2009, while accounting for imperfect detection probability. Population size estimates ranged from a low of 49.8 (95% CI: 44.3-64.4) in 1986 to a high of 181.1 (95% CI: 173.5-196.2) in 2009, and the geometric mean of year-to-year changes in abundance suggested a rate of population growth over the 25-y period of about 4.4%/y. We estimated the annual survival rate to be 0.948 (95% CI: 0.936-0.957). We estimated the probability of temporarily emigrating from the study area to be 0.106 (95% CI: 0.086-0.128), and the probability of a temporary emigrant remaining outside the study area as 0.777 (95% CI: 0.712-0.830). Our results provide new insights into the status and dynamics of this endangered species in and around a large marine protected area and highlight the value of intensive long-term population monitoring efforts.
- Subjects
ICY Strait (Alaska); GLACIER Bay (Alaska); HUMPBACK whale; MARK &; recapture (Population biology); WILDLIFE conservation; POPULATION dynamics
- Publication
Northwestern Naturalist, 2013, Vol 94, Issue 3, p187
- ISSN
1051-1733
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1898/12-34.1