[MARMAM] Reminder: International Save the Vaquita Day 2021

[Thomas Jefferson]

Dear MARMAMers,
  This is a reminder that International Save the Vaquita Day will be on 
Saturday, 24 July.  Due to continuing pandemic concerns, it will be a virtual 
event, with an all-day live-stream of video content.  See 
https://vivavaquita.org/international-save-the-vaquita-day/ for more details.
  As part of this year’s event, we will be presenting a series of short video 
clips of marine mammal researchers and conservationists explaining why they 
think the vaquita needs to be saved from extinction.  We invite MARMAM readers 
to send in 30-60 second video clips, ideally filmed in the field or place of 
work.  Details about how the videos should be sent in can be found here:
https://vaquita.mx/assets/How_to_submit_video_for_ISTVD.pdf

  Please keep your clips under 60 seconds, and end with the following statement:

“President Obrador, do not allow Mexico’s only porpoise to go extinct. Salvemos 
a la vaquita!  Gracias!”

In order to have enough time for editing, please send videos by 12 July 2021.  
And please join us on Saturday, 24 July.  We appreciate your help in working to 
save the vaquita!
Best wishes,
Tom Jefferson
Director, VIVA Vaquita

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[MARMAM] New paper: Modelling fine-scale cetaceans’ distributions in oceanic islands: Madeira Archipelago as a case study

[marc fernandez]

Dear colleagues,

We are extremely pleased to share with you our new open-access paper
focusing on the fine-scale distribution of cetaceans in the Madeira
archipelago using Whale Watching data:

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.688248/full

Fernandez M, Alves F, Ferreira R, Fischer JC, Thake P, Nunes N, Caldeira R
& Dinis A. (2021). Modelling fine-scale cetaceans’ distributions in oceanic
islands: Madeira Archipelago as a case study. Front. Mar. Sci. doi:
10.3389/fmars.2021.688248.

Abstract: Species distributional estimates are an essential tool to improve
and implement effective conservation and management measures. Nevertheless,
obtaining accurate distributional estimates remains a challenge in many
cases, especially when looking at the marine environment, mainly due to the
species mobility and habitat dynamism. Ecosystems surrounding oceanic
islands are highly dynamic and constitute a key actor on pelagic habitats,
congregating biodiversity in their vicinity. The main objective of this
study was to obtain accurate fine-scale spatio-temporal distributional
estimates of cetaceans in oceanic islands, such as the Madeira archipelago,
using a long-term opportunistically collected dataset. Ecological Niche
Models (ENM) were built using cetacean occurrence data collected on-board
commercial whale watching activities and environmental data from 2003 to
2018 for 10 species with a diverse range of habitat associations. Models
were built using two different datasets of environmental variables with
different temporal and spatial resolutions for comparison purposes.
State-of-the-art techniques were used to iterate, build and evaluate the
MAXENT models constructed. Models built using the long-term opportunistic
dataset successfully described distribution patterns throughout the study
area for the species considered. Final models were used to produce spatial
grids of species average and standard deviation suitability monthly
estimates. Results provide the first fine-scale (both in the temporal and
spatial dimension) cetacean distributional estimates for the Madeira
archipelago and reveal seasonal/annual distributional patterns, thus
providing novel insights on species ecology and quantitative data to
implement better dynamic management actions.

Best wishes,

Marc Fernandez
Postdoctoral fellow
MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre / ARDITI
Caminho da Penteada, Madeira Tecnopolo,
9020-105 Funchal,
Portugal
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[MARMAM] FinBase workshop announcement

[Jason Allen]

We are pleased to announce a full day, in-person workshop at the SMM 2021
conference in West Palm Beach, FL on Saturday, December 11, 2021 called
“FinBase photographic-identification database user community development:
Advanced data management and analysis topics”.

The goal of the workshop is to foster a more engaged FinBase user community
that can share knowledge and resources. Many of the FinBase data management
concepts and techniques used to address research questions employed by
individual research labs can be easily adapted and applied by other FinBase
users. The workshop will bring together FinBase users to share their
experiences with the system and discuss how they use the program to meet
their data management, reporting and analysis needs, showcase any
customizations, and relay any system issues and shortcomings.

Please email Jason Allen (alle...@mote.org) if you are interested or would
like more information.

Cheers,

Jason Allen and Jeff Adams

Workshop Coordinators

https://www.smmconference.org/workshops/
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/finbase-photo-identification-database-system



Jason Allen
Lab Manager
Chicago Zoological Society's Sarasota Dolphin Research Program

c/o Mote Marine Laboratory
1600 Ken Thompson Parkway
Sarasota, FL 34236
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[MARMAM] New Paper: Trophic niche overlap between harbour seals and grey seals

[Yann Planque]

Dear MARMAM colleagues,

We are pleased to share our new article published in /Ecology and 
Evolution/:


Planque Y, Spitz J, Authier M, Guillou G, Vincent C, Caurant F. Trophic 
niche overlap between sympatric harbour seals (/Phoca vitulina/) and 
grey seals (/Halichoerus grypus/) at the southern limit of their 
European range (Eastern English Channel). Ecol Evol. 2021;00:1– 22. 
(/Abstract below/)


The article is freely available online from 
https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.7739  
(Open Access).


For people interested by the analyses used in this study, all materials 
(data and R scripts) are publicly accessible from these links:


*→*scat contents data (https://doi.org/10.17882/76780 
) used for diet analysis (diet clusters 
and overlap) (https://github.com/YannPlanque/Diet_Cluster_and_Overlap 
)


*→*stable isotopes data (https://doi.org/10.17882/76528 
) used to identify isotopic niches witha 
novel hierarchical Bayesian model considering both intra- and 
interindividual variability 
(https://github.com/YannPlanque/Isotopic_Niche_Overlap 
)


*→*dive data from telemetry tracking (https://doi.org/10.17882/80016 
) used to identify foraging areas 
(https://github.com/YannPlanque/Foraging_Areas_with_Dive_Data 
)


All the best,

Yann Planque and co-authors

*_Abstract_*: Sympatric harbour (/Phoca vitulina/) and grey seals 
(/Halichoerus grypus/) are increasingly considered potential 
competitors, especially since recent local declines in harbour seal 
numbers while grey seal numbers remained stable or increased at their 
European core distributions. A better understanding of the interactions 
between these species is critical for conservation efforts. This study 
aimed to identify the trophic niche overlap between harbour and grey 
seals at the southern limit of their European range, in the Baie de 
Somme (BDS, Eastern English Channel, France), where numbers of resident 
harbour seals and visiting grey seals are increasing exponentially. 
Dietary overlap was identified from scat contents using hierarchical 
clustering. Isotopic niche overlap was quantified using δ^13 C and δ^15 
N isotopic values from whiskers of 18 individuals, by estimating 
isotopic standard ellipses with a novel hierarchical model developed in 
a Bayesian framework to consider both intraindividual variability and 
interindividual variability. Foraging areas of these individuals were 
identified from telemetry data. The three independent approaches 
provided converging results, revealing a high trophic niche overlap due 
to consumption of benthic flatfish. Two diet clusters were dominated by 
either small or large benthic flatfish; these comprised 85.5% [CI95%: 
80.3%–90.2%] of harbour seal scats and 46.8% [35.1%–58.4%] of grey seal 
scats. The narrower isotopic niche of harbour seals was nested within 
that of grey seals (58.2% [22.7%–100%] overlap). Grey seals with 
isotopic values similar to harbour seals foraged in coastal waters close 
to the BDS alike harbour seals did, suggesting the niche overlap may be 
due to individual grey seal strategies. Our findings therefore provide 
the basis for potential competition between both species (foraging on 
benthic flatfish close to the BDS). We suggest that a continued increase 
in seal numbers and/or a decrease in flatfish supply in this area could 
cause/amplify competitive interactions and have deleterious effects on 
harbour seal colonies.


--
Yann Planque
Doctorant / PhD student
*La Rochelle Université*
Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC, UMR 7372 CNRS/ULR)

Centre Commun d'Analyses
5 allée de l'Océan, 17 000 La Rochelle, France
Tel: +33 (0)5 46 50 76 42
www.cebc.cnrs.fr 
www.univ-larochelle.fr 


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[MARMAM] SMM Editor’s Select Series for July 15h: Reintroductions have saved the sea otter throughout North America: why should we care?

[Student Members-at-Large Society for Marine Mammalogy]

Greetings MARMAM!

Join us on *15 July 2021 at 5 PM Pacific Time (Midnight UTC)* for the next
SMM Seminar Editor's Select Series: Reintroductions have saved the sea
otter throughout North America: why should we care?
Free to attend.
Registration required.
Presented online on Zoom. Register here:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MXNCxxs9SfeJ4wWg2msLOQ

Space on Zoom is limited to the first 100 attendees. The talk will also be
streamed live on the SMM Facebook page
.

*The SMM Seminar Editor's Select Series highlights the latest and most
exciting marine mammal science published in the Marine Mammal Science
Journal. This is your chance to engage with marine mammal scientists, learn
and ask questions from anywhere in the world. All are welcome. *

*About this talk:*
Sea otters were once abundant throughout the nearshore of the North
Pacific. The maritime fur trade left few remnant populations with low
genetic diversity. Subsequent reintroductions of otters resulted in several
new populations in North America. We sampled sea otters genetically from
Bering Island to California to evaluate genetic diversity, population
structure and geneflow. Genetic diversity was the highest in reintroduced
populations, population structure was greatest between California and all
other groups, and geneflow was evident between all populations except for
those at the ends of the range. The reintroductions are arguably the
greatest success in sea otter conservation.

*About the presenter: *
Shawn Larson, PhD, She/Her pronouns, Curator of Conservation Research,
Seattle Aquarium. Shawn has been working at the Seattle Aquarium since
1995. Her main duties are leading the rehabilitation program, the water
quality/research lab and the conservation research program which includes
10 long term ecological monitoring projects on sea otters, Salish Sea
whales, sharks, temperate water rocky reefs, Hawaiian coral reefs, and
microplastics. She has been studying marine mammal physiology, genetics,
population biology and ecology for 27 years and has published several
scientific papers and chapters on marine mammals and was lead editor on a
2015 book published by Elsevier titled Sea Otter Conservation.

Best regards,
Eric Angel Ramos, Ph.D. Candidate
*Ayça Eleman, Ph.D. *Candidate
*Theresa-Anne Tatom-Naecker, Ph.D. Student*
*Student Members-at-Large*
Society for Marine Mammalogy

Check us out on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/marinemammalogy/

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[MARMAM] New publication: Climate change vulnerability of cetaceans in Macaronesia: Insights from a trait-based assessment

[Andreia Gonçalves Sousa]

Hello MARMAM community,

On behalf of my coauthors, I am excited to share our latest publication:

Sousa, A., Alves, F., Arranz, P., Dinis, A., Fernandez, M., González
García, L., Morales, M., Lettrich, M., Encarnação Coelho, R., Costa, H.,
Capela Lourenço, T., Azevedo, N.M.J., Frazão Santos, C., 2021. Climate
change vulnerability of cetaceans in Macaronesia: Insights from a
trait-based assessment. Science of The Total Environment 795, 148652.
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148652

ABSTRACT: Over the last decades global warming has caused an increase in
ocean temperature, acidification and oxygen loss which has led to changes
in nutrient cycling and primary production affecting marine species at
multiple trophic levels. While knowledge about the impacts of climate
change in cetacean's species is still scarce, practitioners and
policymakers need information about the species at risk to guide the
implementation of conservation measures.

To assess cetacean's vulnerability to climate change in the biogeographic
region of Macaronesia, we adapted the Marine Mammal Climate Vulnerability
Assessment (MMCVA) method and applied it to 21 species management units
using an expert elicitation approach.

Results showed that over half (62%) of the units assessed presented Very
High (5 units) or High (8 units) vulnerability scores. Very High
vulnerability scores were found in archipelago associated units of
short-finned pilot whales (*Globicephala macrorhynchus*) and common
bottlenose dolphins (*Tursiops truncatus*), namely in the Canary Islands
and Madeira, as well as Risso's dolphins (*Grampus griseus*) in the Canary
Islands. Overall, certainty scores ranged from Very High to Moderate for
67% of units.

Over 50% of units showed a high potential for distribution, abundance and
phenology changes as a response to climate change.

With this study we target current and future information needs of
conservation managers in the region, and guide research and monitoring
efforts, while contributing to the improvement and validation of
trait-based vulnerability approaches under a changing climate.

The publication is available at:
https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1dNRuB8ccqy6y, and you can download it for
free until August 28.

Best,
Andreia Sousa



*Whale watching and climate change project (WHALES CLIMATE
)*

*Climate Change Impacts Adaptation and Modelling* *(CCIAM
)*
*Centre for Ecology Evolution and Environmental Changes*
*(CE3C )Associação para a Investigação e
Desenvolvimento de Ciências* *(FC.ID )*

Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Portugal Phone: +351 217 500
000, line 21403

Skype ID: andreiagsousa
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