Greetings: My co-authors and I are pleased to announce the publication of our open access paper in Royal Society Open Science:
Pallin L., Bierlich K. C., Durban J., Fearnbach H., Savenko O., Baker C. S., Bell E., Double M. C., de la Mare W., Goldbogen J., Johnston D., Kellar N., Nichols R., Nowacek D., Read A. J., Steel D. and Friedlaender A. 2022. Demography of an ice-obligate mysticete in a region of rapid environmental change. R. Soc. open sci. 9, 220724. http://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220724 Abstract: Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis, AMW) are an abundant, ice-dependent species susceptible to rapid climatic changes occurring in parts of the Antarctic. Here, we used remote biopsy samples and estimates of length derived from unoccupied aircraft system (UAS) to characterize for the first time the sex ratio, maturity, and pregnancy rates of AMWs around the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). DNA profiling of 82 biopsy samples (2013–2020) identified 29 individual males and 40 individual females. Blubber progesterone levels indicated 59% of all sampled females were pregnant, irrespective of maturity. When corrected for sexual maturity, the median pregnancy rate was 92.3%, indicating that most mature females become pregnant each year. We measured 68 individuals by UAS (mean = 8.04 m) and estimated that 66.5% of females were mature. This study provides the first data on the demography of AMWs along the WAP and represents the first use of non-lethal approaches to studying this species. Furthermore, these results provide baselines against which future changes in population status can be assessed in this rapidly changing marine ecosystem. cheers, Logan ____________________________________________________ *Logan J. Pallin, Ph.D.* Bio-Telemetry & Behavioral Ecology Lab <https://btbel.pbsci.ucsc.edu/logan-pallin/> Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology The University of California, Santa Cruz 115 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 lpal...@ucsc.edu | (*he/him/his*)
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