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Energetic Effects of Whale-Watching Boats on Humpback Whales on a Breeding Ground
Frontiers in Marine Science ( IF 3.7 ) Pub Date : 2021-01-11 , DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2020.600508
Damian Villagra , Ana García-Cegarra , Diego I. Gallardo , Aldo S. Pacheco

Interactions between whale-watching boats and cetaceans can lead to changes in their behavior. From a management perspective, it is important to understand how this type of disturbance can be translated into physiological effects, such as changes in their energetic metabolism. Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) typically do not feed while in breeding grounds, thus they depend on finite energy reserves. The effect of whale-watching boats on the energetic metabolism of humpback whales, in the breeding ground of northern Peru (4°10′35″S, 81°08′03″W) was evaluated. Groups of humpback whales were tracked from land, under the following scenarios: with, without, and before-during-after the presence of whale-watching boats. Mass-specific cost of transport (COT) was used as a proxy of energetic efficiency and calculated from swimming speed and breath frequency estimations. No differences were detected in breath frequency, swimming speed, and COT when comparing whales with and without boats. However, in the presence of boats, swim speed increased, and COT decreased as the number of boats increased. Exponential increment in breathing frequency at higher swimming speed was not detected. The absence of swimming speeds beyond the assumed optimal range suggested no shifts into metabolic inefficiency. Our results suggest optimal swimming speed between 2 and 4.05 m/s, representing COT values between 0.020 and 0.041 J × (kg × m)–1. In light of our results, we encourage the implementation of regulations of the activity, particularly limiting the number of boats interacting with the same group of humpback whales.

中文翻译:

观鲸船对繁殖地座头鲸的能量影响

观鲸船和鲸类动物之间的相互作用会导致它们的行为发生变化。从管理的角度来看,了解这种类型的干扰如何转化为生理效应非常重要,例如能量代谢的变化。座头鲸 (Megaptera novaeangliae) 在繁殖地通常不进食,因此它们依赖于有限的能量储备。在秘鲁北部(4°10′35″S,81°08′03″W)的繁殖地,观鲸船对座头鲸能量代谢的影响进行了评估。在以下情况下,从陆地追踪座头鲸群:有、没有和之前-期间-之后的观鲸船。质量特定的运输成本 (COT) 被用作能量效率的代理,并根据游泳速度和呼吸频率估计进行计算。在比较有船和没有船的鲸鱼时,在呼吸频率、游泳速度和 COT 方面没有发现差异。然而,在有船只存在的情况下,游泳速度会随着船只数量的增加而增加,而 COT 会下降。未检测到在较高游泳速度下呼吸频率呈指数增加。没有超出假定的最佳范围的游泳速度表明没有转变为代谢效率低下。我们的结果表明最佳游泳速度在 2 到 4.05 m/s 之间,代表 COT 值在 0.020 到 0.041 J × (kg × m)–1 之间。根据我们的结果,我们鼓励执行活动的规定,
更新日期:2021-01-11
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