Dear Colleagues,
My co-author Solene Dervile and I are
very pleased to be able to share that our paper "Behavioral
responses of humpback whales to biopsy sampling on a breeding
ground: the influence of age-class, reproductive status, social
context, and repeated sampling" has been publisehd in Marine
Mammal Science. 2021 https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12848
Abstract:
The short-term
response of humpback whales to boat approach and remote
biopsy sampling was investigated in a breeding ground
according to age-class, sex, female reproductive status,
social context, sampling system, habitat, and repeated
sampling with more than 20 years of data. In a total of
2,248 observed behavioral responses to biopsy sampling,
58.7%
showed no response, 40.7% were considered to be weak or
moderate responses, and only 0.5% were considered to be
strong. No significant difference was found between the
response of calves (young-of-the-year) and that of adults,
whereas juveniles responded significantly more strenuously.
The response of adult whales was influenced by sex, female
reproductive
status, and social context.Mothers showed themost frequent
response to the boat approach, but the weakest response to
the biopsy sampling itself, whereas nonlactating females had
the strongest response to biopsy sampling. Males responded
less when sampledwithin a competitive group. Repeated
sampling of individual adults resulted in decreasing
intensity of responses across years. This comprehensive
assessment has implications for management authorities,
notably in approving research permits for sampling
different age classes on breeding grounds. We found that
publications on marine mammal welfare are infrequent but on the rise, and that there is a need for a common language between welfare science and marine mammal research to improve the translation and reception of this cross-disciplinary field.
Please contact me or solene.derville@ird.fr for a full pdf paper.
-- Dr Claire Garrigue UMR ENTROPIE - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement 101 Promenade Gabriel Laroque BPA5 98848 Nouméa Cedex Nouvelle-Calédonie Phone: +687 829560 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claire_Garrigue