2% of Cluster 1, 7.1% of Cluster 2, and 12.8% of Cluster 3 individuals had such scarring, although differences between clusters were not statistically significant. There was buy Dasatinib a significant sex bias; all sexed individuals (n = 7) with injuries consistent with fisheries interactions were female. The higher proportion of MHI individuals with fisheries-related scarring suggests that fisheries interactions are occurring at a higher rate in this population. The bias towards females suggests
that fisheries-related mortality has a disproportionate impact on population dynamics. “
“We performed a captive feeding experiment using California sea lions to assess biases associated with estimating pinniped diet using scats and spews. Sea lions were fed nine of their natural prey species: anchovy, sardine, Pacific mackerel, jack mackerel, hake, steelhead smolts, shortbelly rockfish, pink salmon, and market squid. Recovery percentages varied among prey species using otoliths and were improved for adult salmon and sardine using the all-structure method. Numerical and graded length correction factors provided better estimates of number and size of prey consumed. Four models used to determine the proportions
of prey species consumed by a sea lion population PLX4032 price were tested. The all-structure method and variable biomass reconstruction model, in conjunction with numerical and graded length correction factors, provided more accurate estimates than without. We provide numerical correction factors for all prey species, including correction factors for specific salmon bones: vertebrae, branchials, radials, teeth, gill rakers, and hypurals. “
“This study assesses effects of airgun sounds on bowhead calling behavior during the autumn migration. In August–October 2007, 35 directional acoustic recorders (DASARs) were deployed at five sites in the Alaskan Beaufort Sea. Location estimates were obtained for >137,500 individual calls; a subsample of locations with high detection probability was used in the analyses. Call localization
rates (CLRs) were compared before, during, and after periods of airgun use between sites near seismic activities (median distance 41–45 km) and sites relatively distant from seismic activities Arachidonate 15-lipoxygenase (median distance >104 km). At the onset of airgun use, CLRs dropped significantly at sites near the airguns, where median received levels from airgun pulses (SPL) were 116–129 dB re 1 μPa (10–450 Hz). CLRs remained unchanged at sites distant from the airguns, where median received levels were 99–108 dB re 1 μPa. This drop could result from a cessation of calling, deflection of whales around seismic activities, or both combined, but call locations alone were insufficient to differentiate between these possibilities. Reverberation from airgun pulses could have masked a small number of calls near the airguns, but even if masking did take place, the analysis results remain unchanged.