0000000001319480
AUTHOR
Philip S. Hammond
Comparing cetacean abundance estimates derived from spatial models and design-based line transect methods
Spatial modelling is increasingly being used as an alternative to conventional design- based line transect sampling to estimate cetacean abundance. This new method combines line transect sampling with spatial analysis to predict animal abundance based on the relationship of ani- mals observed to environmental factors. It presents several advantages including: (1) the ability to use data collected from 'platforms of opportunity', (2) the ability to estimate abundance for any defined subarea within the study area, and (3) the possibility for increased precision if covariates explain sufficient variability in the data. One study has been conducted to compare spatial modelling with conventional…
Influence of environmental factors on small cetacean distribution in the Spanish Mediterranean
Habitat distribution models are one of the most up to date methods to study the habitat usage of wildlife populations. They allow animal distribution to be related to environmental features and also the prediction of the distribution of animals based on this relationship. Seasonal aerial surveys were conducted in central Spanish Mediterranean waters from June 2000 to March 2003 to obtain information on the distribution of cetacean species. Data from the three most common cetacean species (striped dolphin,Stenella coeruleoalba, bottlenose dolphin,Tursiops truncatus, and Risso's dolphin,Grampus griseus) were related, using generalized linear models, to local environmental features: depth, slo…
Assessing cetacean surveys throughout the Mediterranean Sea: a gap analysis in environmental space
Heterogeneous data collection in the marine environment has led to large gaps in our knowledge of marine species distributions. To fill these gaps, models calibrated on existing data may be used to predict species distributions in unsampled areas, given that available data are sufficiently representative. Our objective was to evaluate the feasibility of mapping cetacean densities across the entire Mediterranean Sea using models calibrated on available survey data and various environmental covariates. We aggregated 302,481 km of line transect survey effort conducted in the Mediterranean Sea within the past 20 years by many organisations. Survey coverage was highly heterogeneous geographicall…
Data from: Assessing cetacean surveys throughout the Mediterranean Sea: a gap analysis in environmental space
Heterogeneous data collection in the marine environment has led to large gaps in our knowledge of marine species distributions. To fill these gaps, models calibrated on existing data may be used to predict species distributions in unsampled areas, given that available data are sufficiently representative. Our objective was to evaluate the feasibility of mapping cetacean densities across the entire Mediterranean Sea using models calibrated on available survey data and various environmental covariates. We aggregated 302,481 km of line transect survey effort conducted in the Mediterranean Sea within the past 20 years by many organisations. Survey coverage was highly heterogeneous geographicall…