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dc.contributor.authorHeide-Jørgensen, M. P.
dc.contributor.authorLaidre, K. L.
dc.contributor.authorBorchers, David Louis
dc.contributor.authorMarques, Tiago A.
dc.contributor.authorStern, H.
dc.contributor.authorSimon, M.
dc.date.accessioned2011-06-14T10:02:16Z
dc.date.available2011-06-14T10:02:16Z
dc.date.issued2010
dc.identifier.citationHeide-Jørgensen , M P , Laidre , K L , Borchers , D L , Marques , T A , Stern , H & Simon , M 2010 , ' The effect of sea-ice loss on beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in West Greenland ' , Polar Research , vol. 29 , no. 2 , pp. 198-208 . https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-8369.2009.00142.xen
dc.identifier.issn0800-0395
dc.identifier.otherPURE: 3401802
dc.identifier.otherPURE UUID: 17f465a9-e0e5-4008-abdc-318e54daa87b
dc.identifier.otherBibtex: urn:e44c530e396508b50f9b6153fa320f10
dc.identifier.otherScopus: 77955071242
dc.identifier.otherWOS: 000280127700005
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0002-2581-1972/work/56861243
dc.identifier.otherORCID: /0000-0002-3944-0754/work/72842431
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/1856
dc.description.abstractAn aerial survey was conducted to estimate the abundance of belugas (Delphinapterus leucas) on their wintering ground in West Greenland in March–April 2006 and 2008. The survey was conducted as a double platform aerial line transect survey, and sampled approximately 17% of the total survey area of ca. 125 000 km2. The abundance of belugas was 10 595 (95% confidence interval 4904–24 650). The largest abundance was found at the northern part of Store Hellefiske Bank, at the eastern edge of the Baffin Bay pack ice, a pattern similar to that found in eight systematic surveys conducted since 1981. A clear relationship between decreasing sea-ice cover and increasing offshore distance of beluga sightings was established from all previous surveys, suggesting that belugas expand their distribution westward as new areas on the banks of West Greenland open up earlier in spring with reduced sea-ice coverage or early annual ice recession. This is in contrast to the relatively confined distribution of belugas near the coast in limited open areas in the early 1980s, when sea-ice cover was greater. However, the effects of the changes in coastal availability of belugas can also be observed with the correlation between catches from the local Inuit hunt and sea-ice cover, where the catches increased significantly with increasing sea-ice coverage during the period 1954–2006. These results, based on nearly 30 years of dedicated survey effort, are among the first available evidence showing a shift in distribution of an Arctic cetacean in response to changes in sea-ice coverage.
dc.format.extent11
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofPolar Researchen
dc.rights© 2009 the authors, journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Polar Research now published by Co-Action Publishing. This journal is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License allowing reuse for non-commercial purposes.en
dc.subjectBelugaen
dc.subjectClimate changeen
dc.subjectLine transecten
dc.subjectSea iceen
dc.subjectWest Greenlanden
dc.subjectGE Environmental Sciencesen
dc.subjectGB Physical geographyen
dc.subjectSDG 13 - Climate Actionen
dc.subject.lccGEen
dc.subject.lccGBen
dc.titleThe effect of sea-ice loss on beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) in West Greenlanden
dc.typeJournal articleen
dc.description.versionPublisher PDFen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. School of Mathematics and Statisticsen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotlanden
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Scottish Oceans Instituteen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. Centre for Research into Ecological & Environmental Modellingen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-8369.2009.00142.x
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.identifier.urlhttp://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77955071242&partnerID=8YFLogxKen
dc.identifier.urlhttp://www.polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/6061en


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