Aerial photogrammetry and tag-derived tissue density reveal patterns of lipid-store body condition of humpback whales on their feeding grounds

Kagari Aoki; Saana Isojunno; Charlotte Bellot; Takahashi Iwata; Joanna Louise Kershaw; Yu Akiyama; Lucía Martina  Martín López; Christian Ramp; Martin Biuw; Rene James Swift; Paul Wensveen; Patrick Pomeroy; Tomoko Narazaki; Ailsa Jane Hall; Katsufumi Sato; Patrick Miller

doi:10.1098/rspb.2020.2307

Aerial photogrammetry and tag-derived tissue density reveal patterns of lipid-store body condition of humpback whales on their feeding grounds

Kagari Aoki^*, Saana Isojunno, Charlotte Bellot, Takahashi Iwata, Joanna Louise Kershaw, Yu Akiyama, Lucía Martina Martín López, Christian Ramp, Martin Biuw, Rene James Swift, Paul Wensveen, Patrick Pomeroy, Tomoko Narazaki, Ailsa Jane Hall, Katsufumi Sato, Patrick Miller

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Monitoring the body condition of free-ranging marine mammals at different life-history stages is essential to understand their ecology as they must accumulate sufficient energy reserves for survival and reproduction. However, assessing body condition in free-ranging marine mammals is challenging. We cross-validated two independent approaches to estimate the body condition of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) at two feeding grounds in Canada and Norway: animal-borne tags (n = 59) and aerial photogrammetry (n = 55). Whales that had a large length-standardized projected area in overhead images (i.e. whales looked fatter) had lower estimated tissue body density (TBD) (greater lipid stores) from tag data. Linking both measurements in a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate the true underlying (hidden) tissue body density (uTBD), we found uTBD was lower (−3.5 kg m⁻³) in pregnant females compared to adult males and resting females, while in lactating females it was higher (+6.0 kg m⁻³). Whales were more negatively buoyant (+5.0 kg m⁻³) in Norway than Canada during the early feeding season, possibly owing to a longer migration from breeding areas. While uTBD decreased over the feeding season across life-history traits, whale tissues remained negatively buoyant (1035.3 ± 3.8 kg m⁻³) in the late feeding season. This study adds confidence to the effectiveness of these independent methods to estimate the body condition of free-ranging whales.

Original language	English
Article number	20202307
Number of pages	10
Journal	Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences
Volume	288
Issue number	1943
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.2307
Publication status	Published - 27 Jan 2021

Keywords

Tissue body density
UAV
Feeding season
Animal-borne sensor
Neutral buoyancy
Cetacean

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1098/rspb.2020.2307Licence: CC BY

Aoki_2020_PRSB_AerialPhotogrammetry_CC
Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Open Access. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
Final published version, 1.84 MBLicence: CC BY

Aerial photogrammetry and tag-derived tissue density reveal patterns of lipid-store body condition of humpback whales on their feeding grounds (dataset)
Isojunno, S. (Creator), Martín López, L. M. (Creator), Pomeroy, P. (Creator) & Miller, P. J. (Creator), Figshare, 2021
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5271301.v2
Dataset

Cite this

Aoki, K., Isojunno, S., Bellot, C., Iwata, T., Kershaw, J. L., Akiyama, Y., Martín López, L. M., Ramp, C., Biuw, M., Swift, R. J., Wensveen, P., Pomeroy, P., Narazaki, T., Hall, A. J., Sato, K., & Miller, P. (2021). Aerial photogrammetry and tag-derived tissue density reveal patterns of lipid-store body condition of humpback whales on their feeding grounds. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, 288(1943), Article 20202307. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.2307

@article{9f41fe0f5e05476c8b6fd1992e976442,

title = "Aerial photogrammetry and tag-derived tissue density reveal patterns of lipid-store body condition of humpback whales on their feeding grounds",

abstract = "Monitoring the body condition of free-ranging marine mammals at different life-history stages is essential to understand their ecology as they must accumulate sufficient energy reserves for survival and reproduction. However, assessing body condition in free-ranging marine mammals is challenging. We cross-validated two independent approaches to estimate the body condition of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) at two feeding grounds in Canada and Norway: animal-borne tags (n = 59) and aerial photogrammetry (n = 55). Whales that had a large length-standardized projected area in overhead images (i.e. whales looked fatter) had lower estimated tissue body density (TBD) (greater lipid stores) from tag data. Linking both measurements in a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate the true underlying (hidden) tissue body density (uTBD), we found uTBD was lower (−3.5 kg m−3) in pregnant females compared to adult males and resting females, while in lactating females it was higher (+6.0 kg m−3). Whales were more negatively buoyant (+5.0 kg m−3) in Norway than Canada during the early feeding season, possibly owing to a longer migration from breeding areas. While uTBD decreased over the feeding season across life-history traits, whale tissues remained negatively buoyant (1035.3 ± 3.8 kg m−3) in the late feeding season. This study adds confidence to the effectiveness of these independent methods to estimate the body condition of free-ranging whales.",

keywords = "Tissue body density, UAV, Feeding season, Animal-borne sensor, Neutral buoyancy, Cetacean",

author = "Kagari Aoki and Saana Isojunno and Charlotte Bellot and Takahashi Iwata and Kershaw, {Joanna Louise} and Yu Akiyama and {Mart{\'i}n L{\'o}pez}, {Luc{\'i}a Martina} and Christian Ramp and Martin Biuw and Swift, {Rene James} and Paul Wensveen and Patrick Pomeroy and Tomoko Narazaki and Hall, {Ailsa Jane} and Katsufumi Sato and Patrick Miller",

note = "This work was supported by the SERDP award (grant no. RC-2337). Additional support for fieldwork was provided by the US Office of Naval Research under the 3S collaborative research project. Analysis and writing were partly supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists B (grant no. 17K12813), The Mitsui & Co. Environment Fund (grant no. R16-0044), JSPS Bilateral Open Partnership Joint Research Projects and NERC National Capability funding.",

year = "2021",

month = jan,

day = "27",

doi = "10.1098/rspb.2020.2307",

language = "English",

volume = "288",

journal = "Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences",

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Aoki, K, Isojunno, S, Bellot, C, Iwata, T, Kershaw, JL, Akiyama, Y, Martín López, LM, Ramp, C, Biuw, M, Swift, RJ, Wensveen, P, Pomeroy, P, Narazaki, T, Hall, AJ, Sato, K & Miller, P 2021, 'Aerial photogrammetry and tag-derived tissue density reveal patterns of lipid-store body condition of humpback whales on their feeding grounds', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, vol. 288, no. 1943, 20202307. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2020.2307

Aerial photogrammetry and tag-derived tissue density reveal patterns of lipid-store body condition of humpback whales on their feeding grounds. / Aoki, Kagari; Isojunno, Saana; Bellot, Charlotte et al.
In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 288, No. 1943, 20202307, 27.01.2021.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Aerial photogrammetry and tag-derived tissue density reveal patterns of lipid-store body condition of humpback whales on their feeding grounds

AU - Aoki, Kagari

AU - Isojunno, Saana

AU - Bellot, Charlotte

AU - Iwata, Takahashi

AU - Kershaw, Joanna Louise

AU - Akiyama, Yu

AU - Martín López, Lucía Martina

AU - Ramp, Christian

AU - Biuw, Martin

AU - Swift, Rene James

AU - Wensveen, Paul

AU - Pomeroy, Patrick

AU - Narazaki, Tomoko

AU - Hall, Ailsa Jane

AU - Sato, Katsufumi

AU - Miller, Patrick

N1 - This work was supported by the SERDP award (grant no. RC-2337). Additional support for fieldwork was provided by the US Office of Naval Research under the 3S collaborative research project. Analysis and writing were partly supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists B (grant no. 17K12813), The Mitsui & Co. Environment Fund (grant no. R16-0044), JSPS Bilateral Open Partnership Joint Research Projects and NERC National Capability funding.

PY - 2021/1/27

Y1 - 2021/1/27

N2 - Monitoring the body condition of free-ranging marine mammals at different life-history stages is essential to understand their ecology as they must accumulate sufficient energy reserves for survival and reproduction. However, assessing body condition in free-ranging marine mammals is challenging. We cross-validated two independent approaches to estimate the body condition of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) at two feeding grounds in Canada and Norway: animal-borne tags (n = 59) and aerial photogrammetry (n = 55). Whales that had a large length-standardized projected area in overhead images (i.e. whales looked fatter) had lower estimated tissue body density (TBD) (greater lipid stores) from tag data. Linking both measurements in a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate the true underlying (hidden) tissue body density (uTBD), we found uTBD was lower (−3.5 kg m−3) in pregnant females compared to adult males and resting females, while in lactating females it was higher (+6.0 kg m−3). Whales were more negatively buoyant (+5.0 kg m−3) in Norway than Canada during the early feeding season, possibly owing to a longer migration from breeding areas. While uTBD decreased over the feeding season across life-history traits, whale tissues remained negatively buoyant (1035.3 ± 3.8 kg m−3) in the late feeding season. This study adds confidence to the effectiveness of these independent methods to estimate the body condition of free-ranging whales.

AB - Monitoring the body condition of free-ranging marine mammals at different life-history stages is essential to understand their ecology as they must accumulate sufficient energy reserves for survival and reproduction. However, assessing body condition in free-ranging marine mammals is challenging. We cross-validated two independent approaches to estimate the body condition of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) at two feeding grounds in Canada and Norway: animal-borne tags (n = 59) and aerial photogrammetry (n = 55). Whales that had a large length-standardized projected area in overhead images (i.e. whales looked fatter) had lower estimated tissue body density (TBD) (greater lipid stores) from tag data. Linking both measurements in a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate the true underlying (hidden) tissue body density (uTBD), we found uTBD was lower (−3.5 kg m−3) in pregnant females compared to adult males and resting females, while in lactating females it was higher (+6.0 kg m−3). Whales were more negatively buoyant (+5.0 kg m−3) in Norway than Canada during the early feeding season, possibly owing to a longer migration from breeding areas. While uTBD decreased over the feeding season across life-history traits, whale tissues remained negatively buoyant (1035.3 ± 3.8 kg m−3) in the late feeding season. This study adds confidence to the effectiveness of these independent methods to estimate the body condition of free-ranging whales.

KW - Tissue body density

KW - UAV

KW - Feeding season

KW - Animal-borne sensor

KW - Neutral buoyancy

KW - Cetacean

U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2020.2307

DO - 10.1098/rspb.2020.2307

M3 - Article

SN - 0962-8452

VL - 288

JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences

JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences

IS - 1943

M1 - 20202307

ER -

Aerial photogrammetry and tag-derived tissue density reveal patterns of lipid-store body condition of humpback whales on their feeding grounds

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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Aerial photogrammetry and tag-derived tissue density reveal patterns of lipid-store body condition of humpback whales on their feeding grounds (dataset)

Cite this