Off-range beaked whale integrated ecosystem study
Abstract
One of the prime Life Sciences research topics at ONR involves behavioral responses of marine mammals to man-made sounds. Strandings, but also sub-lethal changes in (foraging) behavior and habitat-use resulting from naval sonar exposure pose a significant risk of negative effects at the population-level. However, there is a significant lack of understanding of natural behavior and how key contextual and environmental properties, most notably prey availability, modulate these responses and their impacts at individual and population level. Therefore, there is a critical need for the concurrent study of the natural behavior of beaked whales and their prey. Here, we propose an off-range Cuviers beaked whale study, employing a suite of methods to achieve an integrated ecosystem approach to investigate deep-sea predator-prey dynamics, and assessment of individual and population health and demography. Specifically, we aim to: 1) characterize Cuviers beaked whale foraging behavior in relation to its deep-sea prey community, 2) quantify Cuviers beaked whale prey species, community, density and distribution at the Azores and 3) assess Cuviers beaked whale population health and demography at the Azores. The project is specifically designed to enable cross-area and cross-disciplinary collaboration, to enable on- vs. off-range comparison of Cuviers beaked whale-prey dynamics and population demography, and provide input for efforts modelling population-level impacts of (sound) disturbance. We will use a combination of sensors to quantify whale (foraging) behavior and habitat-use (tags, unmanned aerial system, photo ID, observations, passive acoustic monitoring), prey layer density, composition and distribution (bottom-moored echo sounder), prey species and community (eDNA sampling) and oceanographic conditions (bottom-moored sensors). The proposed research will help enable assessment of the biological significance of on-range responses, provide fundamental knowledge required for predictive population impact models and help to provide a full scientific basis for Navy monitoring and mitigation policies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 31, 2020
- Source ID
- N000142012702
Entities
People
- Fleur Visser
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy