title: Habitat-based cetacean density models for the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico.
abstract: Cetaceans are protected worldwide but vulnerable to incidental harm from an expanding array of human activities at sea. Managing potential hazards to these highly-mobile populations increasingly requires a detailed understanding of their seasonal distributions and habitats. Pursuant to the urgent need for this knowledge for the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, we integrated 23 years of aerial and shipboard cetacean surveys, linked them to environmental covariates obtained from remote sensing and ocean models, and built habitat-based density models for 26 species and 3 multi-species guilds using distance sampling methodology. In the Atlantic, for 11 well-known species, model predictions resembled seasonal movement patterns previously suggested in the literature. For these we produced monthly mean density maps. For lesser-known taxa, and in the Gulf of Mexico, where seasonal movements were less well described, we produced year-round mean density maps. The results revealed high regional differences in small delphinoid densities, confirmed the importance of the continental slope to large delphinoids and of canyons and seamounts to beaked and sperm whales, and quantified seasonal shifts in the densities of migratory baleen whales. The density maps, freely available online, are the first for these regions to be published in the peer-reviewed literature.
authors.affiliation: Marine Geospatial Ecology Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Jason J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Marine Geospatial Ecology Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.|Bren School of Environmental Sciences and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Best
authors.affiliation: Marine Geospatial Ecology Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mannocci
authors.affiliation: Marine Geospatial Ecology Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Ei
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fujioka
authors.affiliation: Marine Geospatial Ecology Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Halpin
authors.affiliation: Northeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Debra L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Palka
authors.affiliation: Southeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, Miami, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Lance P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Garrison
authors.affiliation: Southeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, Pascagoula, MS, USA.
authors.forename: Keith D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Mullin
authors.affiliation: Northeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Timothy V N
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.affiliation: Northeast Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Christin B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, NC, USA.
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: McLellan
authors.affiliation: Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, NC, USA.
authors.forename: D Ann
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Pabst
authors.affiliation: Virginia Aquarium &Marine Science Center, Virginia Beach, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Gwen G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Lockhart
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D044822:Biodiversity; D002591:Cetacea / Q000502:physiology*; D060851:Gulf of America; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological