2008

Northwest Atlantic fin whale vocalizations: geographic variations and implications for stock assessments

Abstract: Acoustics has been increasingly used for research on marine mammals as it provides a window into their underwater behavior, allows studying their distribution, movement patterns and relationships and may eventually become a standard stock assessment tool. Fin whales produce low-frequency sounds that have the potential to propagate over long-distances and are the most commonly recorded species in the North...

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Population Dynamics and Social Organisation of Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) - a Long-Term Study in the Gulf of St-Lawrence, Canada

Abstract: The stock of humpback whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL) was severelydepleted by whaling in the 18thand 19thcentury and started to recover later in the 20thcentury than other stocks in the North Atlantic. A long-term study of humpbackwhales by the ‘Mingan Island Cetacean Study’ in the GSL, using photo-identificationand biopsy techniques, started in 1980 and is still...

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Habitat Selection and Niche Characteristics of Rorqual Whales in the Northern Gulf of St. Lawrence (Canada)

Abstract: Habitat selection influences the distribution patterns of animals and how they partition their ecological niches. However, studies of habitat selection seldom model temporal variability and focus primarily on terrestrial ecosystems where habitat patches change over comparatively long time scales. In marine ecosystems, ignoring the time-varying characteristics of habitats might lead to a poor understanding of ecological relationships. Blue (Balaenoptera...

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