Abstract
For biological populations that form aggregations (or clusters) of individuals, cluster size is an important parameter in line-transect abundance estimation and should be accurately measured. Cluster size in cetaceans has traditionally been represented as the total number of individuals in a group, but group size may be underestimated if group members are spatially diffuse. Groups of false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) can comprise numerous subgroups that are dispersed over tens of kilometers, leading to a spatial mismatch between a detected group and the theoretical framework of line-transect analysis. Three stocks of false killer whales are found within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone of the Hawaiian Islands (Hawaiian EEZ): an insular main Hawaiian Islands stock, a pelagic stock, and a Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) stock. A ship-based line-transect survey of the Hawaiian EEZ was conducted in the summer and fall of 2010, resulting in six systematic-effort visual sightings of pelagic (n = 5) and NWHI (n = 1) false killer whale groups. The maximum number and spatial extent of subgroups per sighting was 18 subgroups and 35 km, respectively. These sightings were combined with data from similar previous surveys and analyzed within the conventional line-transect estimation framework. The detection function, mean cluster size, and encounter rate were estimated separately to appropriately incorporate data collected using different methods. Unlike previous line-transect analyses of cetaceans, subgroups were treated as the analytical cluster instead of groups because subgroups better conform to the specifications of line-transect theory. Bootstrap values (n = 5,000) of the line-transect parameters were randomly combined to estimate the variance of stock-specific abundance estimates. Hawai’i pelagic and NWHI false killer whales were estimated to number 1,552 (CV = 0.66; 95% CI = 479–5,030) and 552 (CV = 1.09; 95% CI = 97–3,123) individuals, respectively. Subgroup structure is an important factor to consider in line-transect analyses of false killer whales and other species with complex grouping patterns.
Highlights
Line-transect methods are commonly used to estimate the density and abundance of biological populations and have been widely applied to cetaceans [1,2,3,4,5]
The group-size estimation protocol was successfully implemented for one systematic-effort pelagic sighting (McII 241), which included 16 localized subgroups that spanned over 35 km and were tracked for more than 2 hours (Fig. 2A)
The group-size estimation protocol represented a substantial change in data collection methodology for false killer whales, which had to be accommodated in the abundance estimation
Summary
Line-transect methods are commonly used to estimate the density and abundance of biological populations and have been widely applied to cetaceans [1,2,3,4,5]. When individuals in a study population occur in aggregations (or clusters) of individuals, the cluster size (i.e., number of individuals) of a detection becomes an integral component of line-transect abundance estimation and should be accurately measured [6]. Groups of false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) can consist of multiple dispersed subgroups, and total group size may be underestimated if encounter duration is insufficient [9]. These subgroups can be separated by large enough distances that a spatial mismatch is created between an observed group and the theoretical framework of line-transect analysis, which treats clusters as if they occupy a single point (i.e., the center of the cluster) in twodimensional space
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