Survival and abundance of short-finned pilot whales in the archipelago of Madeira, NE Atlantic

• Autor(a) principal: Alves, Filipe
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Outros Autores: Dinis, Ana, Nicolau, Cátia, Ribeiro, Cláudia, Kaufmann, Manfred, Fortuna, Caterina, Freitas, Luís
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.13/3702
• topic: Globicephala macrorhynchus; Heterogeneity; Island-associated; Mark-recapture; Photo-identification; Population models; Population parameters; Transience; Madeira (Portugal); .; Faculdade de Ciências da Vida

Estimates of population parameters for the short-finned pilot whale, Globicephala macrorhynchus, are scarce in literature, contributing to an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) status of Data Deficient. In this study, photo-identi fication data collected over 7 yr from Madeira were used to estimate for the first time survivorship, capture probability, and abundance in this species using mark-recap ture methodology. The Cormack-Jolly-Seber model estimated that the adult island associated (i.e., resident and regular visitor) whales had a constant survival rate of 0.960 (95% CI: 0.853–0.990) and an annual capture probability varying between 0.372 (CI: 0.178–0.619) and 0.843 (CI: 0.619–0.947). A parameterization of the Jolly-Seber model estimated that 140 island-associated whales (CI: 131–151) used the area throughout the course of the study. Based on a closed population model, the most precise (lower CV) annual estimate of the total number of pilot whales using the southern and eastern waters of Madeira (~900 km2 ) in a 3 mo period covering summer/autumn was 334 animals (CI: 260–437). No trend was observed. Despite including biases, the approach used in this study provided plausible estimates of population parameters, which can contribute to the regional conservation strategies.