Spatially Estimating Disturbance of Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina).

ABSTRACT: Tidewater glacial fjords in Alaska provide habitat for some of the largest aggregations of harbor seals (Phoca vitulina), with calved ice serving as platforms for birthing and nursing pups, molting, and resting. These fjords have also been popular destinations for tour ships for more than a century, with dramatic increases in vessel traffic since the 1980s. Seals on ice are known to flush into the water when approached by tour ships, but estimating the exposure to disturbance across populations is difficult. Using aerial transect sampling while simultaneously tracking vessel movements, we estimated the spatial overlap between seals on ice and cruise ships in Disenchantment Bay, Alaska, USA. By integrating previously estimated rates of disturbance as a function of distance with an 'intensit

SUBMITTER: Jansen JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4488586 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature