Four decades of annual monitoring reveal declining reproductive success of a migratory baleen whale.

ABSTRACT: Understanding and mitigating threats to species survival relies on the ability to track key demographic processes over time. Among these processes, reproduction stands out as a primary biological driver of population growth and resilience. Multiple factors affect reproductive success, including environmental variables and resource availability. Long-term trends in reproductive parameters of long-lived species can thus serve as indicators of ecosystem health over meaningful timescales. This study analyses the reproductive performance of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) in South Africa using forty years of individual sighting histories. Results reveal that the median and average calving intervals increased post-2010, reaching an average maximum of 7.2 years in 2022. The average ca

SUBMITTER: Vermeulen E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12500924 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature