Application of a habitat model to define calving habitat of the North Atlantic right whale in the southeastern United States

摘要

Spatially-explicit habitat models can impart a scientific basis for delineating critical habitats that relate species' distributions to physical and biological conditions, even in marine environments with vague and dynamic boundaries. We developed a habitat model of the relationship between the winter distribution of North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis, one of the most endangered large whales in the world, and environmental characteristics in its only identified calving ground, the waters off Florida and Georgia. Our objective was to provide a scientific basis for revising critical habitat boundaries in the southeastern USA (SEUS) and to predict potential habitat in the mid-Atlantic region north of the study area through a better understanding of the relationship of observed right whale distribution to environmental conditions. A long-term data set of right whale sightings from aerial surveys within the SEUS (conducted seasonally, December through March, from 1992/1993 to 2000/2001)