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Abstract
Decades after a ban on hunting, and despite focused management interventions, the endangered St. Lawrence Estuary (SLE) beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) population has failed to recover. We applied a population viability analysis to simulate the responses of the SLE beluga population across a wide range of variability and uncertainty under current and projected changes in environmental and climate-mediated conditions. Three proximate threats to recovery were explored: ocean noise; contaminants; and prey limitation. Even the most optimistic scenarios failed to achieve the reliable positive population growth needed to meet current recovery targets. Here we show that predicted effects of climate change may be a more significant driver of SLE beluga population dynamics than the proximate threats we considered. Aggressive mitigation of all three proximate threats will be needed to build the population's resilience and allow the population to persist long enough for global actions to mitigate climate change to take effect.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 113096 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Marine Pollution Bulletin |
Volume | 173 |
Issue number | Part B |
Early online date | 28 Oct 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2021 |
Keywords
- Beluga
- Population viability analysis
- Climate change
- Cetacean
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Dive into the research topics of 'Climate change complicates efforts to ensure survival and recovery of St. Lawrence Estuary beluga'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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NERC NC National Public Good 2018 - 2023: Sea Mammal Research Unit NC-NPG activities to fulfill NERC's statutory duties.
Sparling, C. E. (PI) & Hall, A. J. (CoI)
1/04/18 → 31/03/23
Project: Standard
Datasets
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Vortex input file -- Williams et al. "Climate change exacerbates efforts to ensure survival and recovery of St. Lawrence Estuary beluga"
Lesage, V. (Contributor), Hall, A. (Contributor), Ashe, E. (Contributor), Plourde, S. (Contributor), Lacy, R. C. (Contributor), McQuinn, I. (Contributor) & Williams, R. (Contributor), Zenodo, 15 Feb 2021
Dataset