Dear colleagues, We are pleased to announce the publication of the following paper "Seasonal and Geographic variation of southern blue whale subspecies in the Indian Ocean" by Flore Samaran, Kathleen M. Stafford, Trevor A. Branch, Jason Gedamke, Jean-Yves Royer, Robert P. Dziak, Christophe Guinet in PLOS ONE.
Although the paper is available online, the journal published it without 3 very important figures (note that at present PLoSONE does not provide a pre-publication proof so that authors can make sure such a mistake does not occur) and as this has not yet been corrected (and may not be according to the journal) rather than download the PDF from PLosOne, please feel free to send me an email and I will send you the complete version of the paper. "Seasonal and Geographic variation of southern blue whale subspecies in the Indian Ocean" by Flore Samaran, Kathleen M. Stafford, Trevor A. Branch, Jason Gedamke, Jean-Yves Royer, Robert P. Dziak, Christophe Guinet Understanding the seasonal movements and distribution patterns of migratory species over ocean basin scales is vital for appropriate conservation and management measures. However, assessing populations over remote regions is challenging, particularly if they are rare. Blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus spp) are an endangered species found in the Southern and Indian Oceans. Here two recognized subspecies of blue whales and, based on passive acoustic monitoring, four “acoustic populations” occur. Three of these are pygmy blue whale (B.m. brevicauda) populations while the fourth is the Antarctic blue whale (B.m. intermedia). Past whaling catches have dramatically reduced their numbers but recent acoustic recordings show that these oceans are still important habitat for blue whales. Presently little is known about the seasonal movements and degree of overlap of these four populations, particularly in the central Indian Ocean. We examined the geographic and seasonal occurrence of different blue whale acoustic populations using one year of passive acoustic recording from three sites located at different latitudes in the Indian Ocean. The vocalizations of the different blue whale subspecies and acoustic populations were recorded seasonally in different regions. For some call types and locations, there was spatial and temporal overlap, particularly between Antarctic and different pygmy blue whale acoustic populations. Except on the southernmost hydrophone, all three pygmy blue whale acoustic populations were found at different sites or during different seasons, which further suggests that these populations are generally geographically distinct. This unusual blue whale diversity in sub-Antarctic and sub-tropical waters indicates the importance of the area for blue whales in these former whaling grounds. Best regards, Flore Samaran and coauthors -- Flore Samaran PhD Chargée de mission NATURA 2000: Marsouin Commun, volet acoustique passive Centre de Recherche des Mammifères Marins Observatoire Pelagis - UMS 3462 5 allée de l'Océan 17 000 La Rochelle E-mail: [email protected] Tel. +(33) 05 16 49 67 20 Port. +(33) 06 08 12 70 68 Fax +(33) 05 46 45 85 55
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