Aerial And Ship Based Surveys Of Steller Sea Lions Eumetopias Jubatus In Southeast Alaska The Gulf Of Alaska And Aleutian Islands During June And July 1991

Author : Kathryn Lynne Sweeney
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 91 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (846 download)

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Download or read book Aerial and Ship-based Surveys of Steller Sea Lions (Eumetopias Jubatus) Conducted in Alaska in June-July 2008 Through 2012, and an Update on the Status and Trend of the Western Distinct Population Segment in Alaska written by Kathryn Lynne Sweeney and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 91 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is strong evidence that both the western and eastern distinct population segments (DPSs) of Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) increased in overall abundance in Alaska between 2000 and 2012. Counts of both non-pups (adults and juveniles) and pups during the breeding season in the western DPS were lowest in 2000, and increased at average rates of 1.67% per year (95% credible interval of 1.01-2.38% per year) and 1.45% per year (0.69-2.22% per year), respectively through 2012. However, there was considerable regional variability in non-pup and pup trends in 2000-2012 across the western DPS, with strong evidence of increases in three of the four regions east of Samalga Pass (eastern and western Gulf of Alaska, and eastern Aleutian Islands; ranges of 2.39% per year to 4.51% per year for non-pups and 3.03% per year to 3.97% per year for pups) being offset somewhat by both weak and strong declines in the two regions west of Samalga Pass (central and western Aleutian Islands; slow, uncertain declines in the central [-0.56% per year and -0.46% per year for non-pups and pups, respectively] and steep, certain declines in the western Aleutians [-7.23% per year and -9.36% per year for non-pups and pups, respectively]). Within the central Aleutian Islands, non-pup and pup trends varied east and west of 177°W (roughly Tanaga Pass): in the two rookery cluster areas to the east, trends were generally positive (0.51% per year and 2.25% per year for non-pups, and 2.56% per year and 0.45% per year for pups), while to the west, there was strong evidence of decline (-4.48% per year and -3.24% per year for non-pups, and -4.83% per year and -1.74% per year for pups). In southeast Alaska (eastern DPS of Steller sea lion), both non-pup and pup counts increased between 2000 and 2010, continuing the upward trend begun in the mid-1970s. Movement of young Steller sea lions into and out of the eastern Gulf of Alaska was observed during surveys conducted 'early' and 'late' in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Analysis of the movement of sea lions branded as pups in 2000-2011 on rookeries extending from southeast Alaska through the Kodiak archipelago (including work by Jemison et al. in review) suggests a net movement from the central to the eastern Gulf of Alaska of ~1,600 sea lions during the breeding season, as well as a smaller net movement (of ~180 sea lions) from southeast Alaska to the western DPS. Inter-regional movement of this magnitude within the western DPS could affect regional trend estimation, and therefore it may be inappropriate to treat the eastern and central Gulf of Alaska as 'closed' populations; non-pup counts in the combined eastern-central Gulf of Alaska increased at 2.40% per year between 2000 and 2012. Average annual inter-DPS movement represents