Whisperers of whales wander: A directional statistical investigation of whales’ migration influenced by geomagnetic, ocean current, and celestial cues

IF 2.5 3区 环境科学与生态学 Q2 BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
Debashis Chatterjee , Prithwish Ghosh
{"title":"Whisperers of whales wander: A directional statistical investigation of whales’ migration influenced by geomagnetic, ocean current, and celestial cues","authors":"Debashis Chatterjee ,&nbsp;Prithwish Ghosh","doi":"10.1016/j.jnc.2025.127011","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding the migration patterns of blue and humpback whales is essential for devising effective conservation and management plans to maintain a balanced ocean ecosystem. This study investigates the migration patterns of these whales along the western coast of North America using a comprehensive dataset that includes longitude, latitude, changes in path direction, magnetic inclination, declination change, and date. We applied a mixture of von Mises–Fisher distributions for directional changes in whale paths. Our analysis indicates that the directional changes of blue and humpback whales can be best represented by a mixture of nine von Mises Fisher distributions, highlighting significant variation in their migration directions. Additionally, we introduce a novel circular–circular regression model to examine the relationship between the whales’ directional changes and various environmental factors, such as magnetic inclination, declination, sun and moon positions, and ocean currents. The hypothesis tests reveal a statistically significant non-zero correlation between the directional changes of the whales and the environmental factors considered. The results emphasize that the correlation between solar position and geomagnetic changes has the most pronounced effect on blue and humpback whales. The findings underscore the complexity of whale migration and the influence of environmental variables, providing valuable insights for conservation efforts and furthering our understanding of these species behaviors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54898,"journal":{"name":"Journal for Nature Conservation","volume":"88 ","pages":"Article 127011"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal for Nature Conservation","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1617138125001888","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Understanding the migration patterns of blue and humpback whales is essential for devising effective conservation and management plans to maintain a balanced ocean ecosystem. This study investigates the migration patterns of these whales along the western coast of North America using a comprehensive dataset that includes longitude, latitude, changes in path direction, magnetic inclination, declination change, and date. We applied a mixture of von Mises–Fisher distributions for directional changes in whale paths. Our analysis indicates that the directional changes of blue and humpback whales can be best represented by a mixture of nine von Mises Fisher distributions, highlighting significant variation in their migration directions. Additionally, we introduce a novel circular–circular regression model to examine the relationship between the whales’ directional changes and various environmental factors, such as magnetic inclination, declination, sun and moon positions, and ocean currents. The hypothesis tests reveal a statistically significant non-zero correlation between the directional changes of the whales and the environmental factors considered. The results emphasize that the correlation between solar position and geomagnetic changes has the most pronounced effect on blue and humpback whales. The findings underscore the complexity of whale migration and the influence of environmental variables, providing valuable insights for conservation efforts and furthering our understanding of these species behaviors.
鲸鱼漫游的低语者:受地磁、洋流和天体线索影响的鲸鱼迁徙的定向统计调查
了解蓝鲸和座头鲸的迁徙模式对于制定有效的保护和管理计划以维持平衡的海洋生态系统至关重要。本研究利用包括经度、纬度、路径方向变化、磁倾角、赤纬变化和日期在内的综合数据集,调查了这些鲸鱼沿着北美西海岸的迁徙模式。我们将von Mises-Fisher分布的混合应用于鲸鱼路径的方向变化。我们的分析表明,蓝鲸和座头鲸的方向变化可以最好地由9个von Mises Fisher分布的混合来代表,突出了它们迁移方向的显著变化。此外,我们引入了一种新颖的圆-圆回归模型来研究鲸鱼的方向变化与各种环境因素之间的关系,如磁倾角、赤纬、日月位置和洋流。假设检验显示,鲸鱼的方向变化与所考虑的环境因素之间存在统计学上显著的非零相关性。研究结果强调,太阳位置和地磁变化之间的相关性对蓝鲸和座头鲸的影响最为显著。这些发现强调了鲸鱼迁徙的复杂性和环境变量的影响,为保护工作提供了有价值的见解,并进一步加深了我们对这些物种行为的理解。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
Journal for Nature Conservation
Journal for Nature Conservation 环境科学-生态学
CiteScore
3.70
自引率
5.00%
发文量
151
审稿时长
7.9 weeks
期刊介绍: The Journal for Nature Conservation addresses concepts, methods and techniques for nature conservation. This international and interdisciplinary journal encourages collaboration between scientists and practitioners, including the integration of biodiversity issues with social and economic concepts. Therefore, conceptual, technical and methodological papers, as well as reviews, research papers, and short communications are welcomed from a wide range of disciplines, including theoretical ecology, landscape ecology, restoration ecology, ecological modelling, and others, provided that there is a clear connection and immediate relevance to nature conservation. Manuscripts without any immediate conservation context, such as inventories, distribution modelling, genetic studies, animal behaviour, plant physiology, will not be considered for this journal; though such data may be useful for conservationists and managers in the future, this is outside of the current scope of the journal.
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:604180095
Book学术官方微信