The humpback whale off The Coast of Ecuador, population parameters and behavior

Between 1991 and 1997 the southeastern Pacific humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) stock was studied off the central part of Ecuador (01°24'S, 80°55'W) during the breeding season (June-September). For this purpose, surveys were carried out onboard whale-watching boats at two different...

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Autores principales:	Félix,Fernando, Haase,Ben
Lenguaje:	English
Publicado:	Universidad de Valparaíso. Facultad de Ciencias del Mar 2001
Materias:	Humpback whale southeastern Pacific stock population parameters Ecuador South America
Acceso en línea:	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-19572001000100006
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spelling	oai:scielo:S0718-195720010001000062009-05-05The humpback whale off The Coast of Ecuador, population parameters and behaviorFélix,FernandoHaase,Ben Humpback whale southeastern Pacific stock population parameters Ecuador South America Between 1991 and 1997 the southeastern Pacific humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) stock was studied off the central part of Ecuador (01°24'S, 80°55'W) during the breeding season (June-September). For this purpose, surveys were carried out onboard whale-watching boats at two different sites: Puerto López and Puerto Cayo. Some population parameters such as distribution, group structure, population size, calving rate and behavior were evaluated. The first whales arrived by the end of May, they peaked in July and most of them had left the area by the end of September. Along the Puerto López route, groups were significantly larger (P<0.01) but whales were significantly less abundant (P<0.01) than Puerto Cayo's. GPS-positioned sightings showed that whales presented a clumped distribution with concentrations at specific sites along both surveyed routes. Analyses of group composition suggest a type of age/sex-class segregation inside the study area. Around sites such as La Plata Island and the Bajo de Cantagallo groups were composed mainly of adult and subadult animals. In contrast, nearby Puerto Cayo groups were composed mainly of mothers with calves and solitary individuals. Groups changed at least one member every 257 minutes on the average, but no change in membership was noticed when a mother-calf pair was present. Most calves were recorded from the second half of August onward and showed a preference for shallow waters with 20m or less in depth. The crude birth rate average obtained (0.039) is considered underestimated. A low resighting rate of photo-identified individuals indicates both a low residence level and a poor degree of fidelity to the study site. The size of the stock was estimated in 1996 to be 1,922 whales (95% C.I. 77-3,367).info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessUniversidad de Valparaíso. Facultad de Ciencias del MarRevista de biología marina y oceanografía v.36 n.1 20012001-07-01text/htmlhttp://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-19572001000100006en10.4067/S0718-19572001000100006
institution	Scielo Chile
collection	Scielo Chile
language	English
topic	Humpback whale southeastern Pacific stock population parameters Ecuador South America
spellingShingle	Humpback whale southeastern Pacific stock population parameters Ecuador South America Félix,Fernando Haase,Ben The humpback whale off The Coast of Ecuador, population parameters and behavior
description	Between 1991 and 1997 the southeastern Pacific humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) stock was studied off the central part of Ecuador (01°24'S, 80°55'W) during the breeding season (June-September). For this purpose, surveys were carried out onboard whale-watching boats at two different sites: Puerto López and Puerto Cayo. Some population parameters such as distribution, group structure, population size, calving rate and behavior were evaluated. The first whales arrived by the end of May, they peaked in July and most of them had left the area by the end of September. Along the Puerto López route, groups were significantly larger (P<0.01) but whales were significantly less abundant (P<0.01) than Puerto Cayo's. GPS-positioned sightings showed that whales presented a clumped distribution with concentrations at specific sites along both surveyed routes. Analyses of group composition suggest a type of age/sex-class segregation inside the study area. Around sites such as La Plata Island and the Bajo de Cantagallo groups were composed mainly of adult and subadult animals. In contrast, nearby Puerto Cayo groups were composed mainly of mothers with calves and solitary individuals. Groups changed at least one member every 257 minutes on the average, but no change in membership was noticed when a mother-calf pair was present. Most calves were recorded from the second half of August onward and showed a preference for shallow waters with 20m or less in depth. The crude birth rate average obtained (0.039) is considered underestimated. A low resighting rate of photo-identified individuals indicates both a low residence level and a poor degree of fidelity to the study site. The size of the stock was estimated in 1996 to be 1,922 whales (95% C.I. 77-3,367).
author	Félix,Fernando Haase,Ben
author_facet	Félix,Fernando Haase,Ben
author_sort	Félix,Fernando
title	The humpback whale off The Coast of Ecuador, population parameters and behavior
title_short	The humpback whale off The Coast of Ecuador, population parameters and behavior
title_full	The humpback whale off The Coast of Ecuador, population parameters and behavior
title_fullStr	The humpback whale off The Coast of Ecuador, population parameters and behavior
title_full_unstemmed	The humpback whale off The Coast of Ecuador, population parameters and behavior
title_sort	humpback whale off the coast of ecuador, population parameters and behavior
publisher	Universidad de Valparaíso. Facultad de Ciencias del Mar
publishDate	2001
url	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-19572001000100006
work_keys_str_mv	AT felixfernando thehumpbackwhaleoffthecoastofecuadorpopulationparametersandbehavior AT haaseben thehumpbackwhaleoffthecoastofecuadorpopulationparametersandbehavior AT felixfernando humpbackwhaleoffthecoastofecuadorpopulationparametersandbehavior AT haaseben humpbackwhaleoffthecoastofecuadorpopulationparametersandbehavior
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The humpback whale off The Coast of Ecuador, population parameters and behavior

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