Modeling of Habitat and Foraging Behavior of Beaked Whales in the Southern California Bight

Abstract

Abstract : The overall goal of this project is to improve our understanding of beaked whale distribution and foraging behavior and to describe inter-specific differences. We are developing habitat models for multiple beaked whale species in the Southern California Bight using visual and passive acoustic detections acquired from visual and acoustic line transect surveys and autonomous recorders, in correlation with oceanographic and geographic habitat variables. We aim to compare habitat models using visual and acoustic line transect data with those generated using autonomous acoustic recorder detections alone. The goal is to draw on the strengths of these two beaked whale detection datasets to construct habitat models that are superior to what might be developed using either dataset in isolation. Furthermore, we aim to model the foraging behavior of beaked whales with respect to spatio-temporal occurrence on a diel or seasonal basis and in correlation to oceanographic or geographic variables.