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opencc-zeroOct 2019View details →

Strandings of marine mammals, sea turtles and seabirds along the central-south coast of São Paulo, Brazil, from 2015 to 2018.

To assess the potential impacts on seabirds, turtles and marine mammals from oil and gas production from the oceanic Pre-Salt province at Brazil's Santos Basin, the Brazilian environmental agency (IBAMA) required PETROBRAS, the main oil company in the basin, to implement the "Programa de Monitoramento de Praias da Bacia de Santos" (Santos Basin Beach Monitoring Program - PMP-BS). Since 2015 PMP-BS has been operating along the states of Santa Catarina, Paraná, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, to collect biological data from live and dead stranded animals. This dataset comprises the first three years of monitoring (September 2015 to August 2018) along the central-south São Paulo state coastline, from 24°1'1.248" S 46°23'52.026" W to 24°26'49.147" S 47°4'49.505" W. During this period, 3790 animals of 47 species were recorded, 94.88% of which were dead and 5.12% alive when first observed. This dataset represents the first high-intensity monitoring effort in the area and is essential to establish baselines for future work that seek to better understand the impacts of human activities on marine ecosystems.

opencc-zeroJul 2022View details →

Data from: Integrating 3D models with morphometric measurements to improve volumetric estimates in marine mammals

1. Studies of body condition are key to understanding the health, bioenergetics, and ecological roles of marine mammals. Due to challenges in studying marine mammals at sea, body condition is often approximated using metrics representing the size of the dorsal surface visible from aerial imagery, but quantifying variability in body volume would enable a more holistic understanding of bioenergetics. Further, the number and location of measurements needed to accurately quantify body condition has received little attention. Three-dimensional (3D) models provide a promising tool for representing morphology and providing holistic estimates of marine mammal body condition when combined with field-based morphometric measurements. 2. We use humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) to demonstrate the utility of 3D models for estimating body condition in marine mammals. We integrate morphometric measurements taken from Unoccupied Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with scalable 3D models to generate estimates of humpback whale body volume. We assess which and how many morphometric measurements are required to accurately estimate body volume and compare the error between volume estimates derived from 3D models and previously developed models representing volume as a series of ellipses. Using UAV measurements, we assess the contribution of each morphometric measurement to volumetric estimates, and quantify the error produced by all combinations and numbers of morphometric measurements (131,072 combinations). 3. Error in volume estimates from 3D models generated with as few as five width measurements was <5% compared to the full models and was lower than the error produced when using five width measurements with the elliptical approach. We suggest that by conserving the external morphology of marine mammals, 3D models allow body volume and body condition to be estimated accurately with few measurements. 4. We provide code and guidelines for creating 3D models using the open-source software Blender and for assessing which measurements are needed to accurately capture the morphology of cetaceans. The 3D modeling approach we present will facilitate studies of intra- and interannual changes in body volume in marine mammals, which is vital to providing a more holistic understanding of bioenergetics and to assessing responses to environmental change and anthropogenic stressors.

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2014View details →

Figure 2 in Checklist of marine tetrapods (reptiles, seabirds, and mammals) of Turkey

Figure 2. Map showing the distribution of marine mammal diversity along Turkish coasts.

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2014View details →

Figure 1 in Checklist of marine tetrapods (reptiles, seabirds, and mammals) of Turkey

Figure 1. Larus argentatus individual observed at Samsun Harbor (by Nizamettin Yavuz).

FIG. 31 in Non-marine mammals of Togo (West Africa): an annotated checklist

FIG. 31. — Distribution of the number of Togolese mammal species by ecological zone.

FIG. 20 in Non-marine mammals of Togo (West Africa): an annotated checklist

FIG. 20. — Chlorocebus tantalus (Ogilby, 1841). Photograph: Gabriel Hoinsoudé Segniagbeto.

FIG. 1 in Non-marine mammals of Togo (West Africa): an annotated checklist

FIG. 1. — Map of Togo, showing the five ecological zones.

FIG. 23 in Non-marine mammals of Togo (West Africa): an annotated checklist

FIG. 23. — Elephants from the borders between Burkina Faso and Togo. Photograph: Emmanuel Hema.

opencc-zeroOct 2021View details →

Emergence and radiation of distemper viruses in terrestrial and marine mammals - Input files, bash and R codes for analysing PDV and CDV sequence data

Canine distemper virus (CDV) and phocine distemper virus (PDV) are major pathogens to terrestrial and marine mammals. Yet little is known about the timing and geographical origin of distemper viruses and to what extent it was influenced by environmental change and human activities. To address this, we i) performed the first comprehensive time-calibrated phylogenetic analysis of the two distemper viruses; ii) mapped distemper antibody and virus detection data from marine mammals collected between 1972-2018; iii) and compiled historical reports on distemper dating back to the 18th century. We find that CDV and PDV diverged in the early 17th century. Modern CDV strains last shared a common ancestor in the 19th century with a marked radiation during the 1930s-50s. Modern PDV strains are of more recent origin, diverging in the 1970s-80s. Based on the compiled information on distemper distribution, the diverse host range of CDV and basal phylogenetic placement of terrestrial morbilliviruses, we hypothesize a terrestrial CDV-like ancestor giving rise to PDV in the North Atlantic. Moreover, given the estimated timing of distemper origin and radiation, we hypothesize a prominent role of environmental change such as the Little Ice Age, and human activities like globalisation and war in distemper virus evolution.

opencc-zeroMay 2023View details →

Data for: Small reductions in cargo vessel speed dramatically reduce noise impacts to marine mammals

Global reductions in the underwater radiated noise levels from cargo vessels are needed to reduce increasing cumulative impacts to marine wildlife. We use a vessel exposure simulation model to examine how reducing vessel source levels through slowdowns and technological modifications can lessen impacts on marine mammals. We show that the area exposed to ship noise reduces dramatically with moderate source level reductions that can be readily achieved with small reductions in speed. Moreover, slowdowns reduce all impacts to marine mammals despite the longer time that a slower vessel takes to pass an animal. We conclude that cumulative noise impacts from the global fleet can be reduced immediately by slowdowns. This solution requires no modification to ships and is scalable – from local speed reductions in sensitive areas to ocean basins. Speed reductions can be supplemented by routing vessels away from critical habitats and by technological modifications to reduce vessel noise.

opencc-by-4.0Aug 2023View details →

Visual and acoustic detctions of marine mammals from the M/Y Arctic Sunrise, Indian Ocean, 2021

Supplementory acoustic detection and visual sightings tables along with acoustic recordings (500 kHz, 4-channel .wav files) of visually verified dolphin encounters, during a survey of the Saya de Malha bank region, Indian Ocean in March of 2021. Associated with "Cetaceans of the Saya de Malha bank region, Indian Ocean: A candidate Important Marine Mammal Area" in Regional Studies in Marine Science.