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Contributions of Photographs to Cetacean Science

Author(s):

Lisa T. Ballance

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Abstract: Over four decades ago, a short paper demonstrated how photographs of free-swimming dolphins could be used to reveal scientific information about cetaceans. That paper, and a few others published during the same time period, illustrated a research technique that has become foundational in the field of marine mammalogy and resulted in a cascade of science. Photographs can be used to identify individuals, providing insights into movements, migrations, site fidelity, school structure and stability, and abundance. Photographs can be used to estimate group size and improve the precision of abundance estimates. Photographs can characterize reproductive output at the population level. Photographs allow for quantification of morphology, yielding insights into classification at a variety of taxonomic levels; and they provide a means to assess the condition and health of individual animals. And photographs can provide insights into behavior. The information photographs convey and their applications to cetacean research are ever-increasing. Ultimately, photographs have provided a high-quality and relatively inexpensive means to increase the knowledge base for most cetacean species in all of the oceans of the world through research conducted by scientists of developed and developing nations, and through citizen science conducted by non-scientists.
Key Words: cetaceans, photo-identification, mark-recapture methods, line-transect methods, eastern tropical Pacific, school size calibration, photogrammetry
Document: Article
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1578/AM.44.6.2018.668
Page Numbers: 668-682

 

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Info SKU: Vol__44__Iss__6_Ballance Category:

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