Marine mammal habitat models come of age: the emergence of ecological and management relevance

Abstract

Models for predicting marine mammal habitat are increasingly being developed to help answer questions about species' ecology, conservation, and management. Over the past 10 yr, the models and analyses presented at the Habitat Modelling Workshops of the Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals have shown tremendous development in their breadth and complexity. At the 18th Biennial, held in Quebec City, Canada, in 2009 we noticed a change in how these models were presented. Instead of a focus on methods and model develop- ment, many researchers presented models highlighting ecological insights or management appli- cations. We recognised this as a watershed moment for our discipline, the time when we started paying more attention to what our models were telling us than how to build them. To celebrate this progress, we invited researchers from the global marine mammal community to submit articles to this Theme Section of Endangered Species Research describing work that included not only advanced model development, but also emphasised ecological interpretation or management rel- evance. The resulting collection of articles highlights the leading science in marine mammal habi- tat modelling, and provides some important indications of how, as a community, we must continue to refine our methods to move beyond correlations towards understanding the processes that interact to create marine mammal habitat. While there will no doubt be future challenges to over- come, the articles in this collection raise the standard for marine mammal habitat modelling, and herald the transition from learning how to model, to using our models as a heuristic tool to support ecological understanding and marine spatial planning.