Publication Date:
2022-07-28
Description:
© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Lonati, G., Zitterbart, D. P., Miller, C. A., Corkeron, P. J., Murphy, C. T., & Moore, M. J. Investigating the thermal physiology of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis via aerial infrared thermography. Endangered Species Research, 48, (2022): 139–154, https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01193.
Description:
The Critically Endangered status of North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis (NARWs) warrants the development of new, less invasive technology to monitor the health of individuals. Combined with advancements in remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS, commonly ‘drones’), infrared thermography (IRT) is being increasingly used to detect and count marine mammals and study their physiology. We conducted RPAS-based IRT over NARWs in Cape Cod Bay, MA, USA, in 2017 and 2018. Observations demonstrated 3 particularly useful applications of RPAS-based IRT to study large whales: (1) exploring patterns of cranial heat loss and providing insight into the physiological mechanisms that produce these patterns; (2) tracking subsurface individuals in real-time (depending on the thermal stratification of the water column) using cold surface water anomalies resulting from fluke upstrokes; and (3) detecting natural changes in superficial blood circulation or diagnosing pathology based on heat anomalies on post-cranial body surfaces. These qualitative applications present a new, important opportunity to study, monitor, and conserve large whales, particularly rare and at-risk species such as NARWs. Despite the challenges of using this technology in aquatic environments, the applications of RPAS-based IRT for monitoring the health and behavior of endangered marine mammals, including the collection of quantitative data on thermal physiology, will continue to diversify.
Description:
All activities were conducted under NOAA permit 18355-01 and were approved by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). The RPAS pilot-in-command was certified through the United States Federal Aviation Admin-istration. We thank Amy Knowlton (Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium) for photo-identifying individual North Atlantic right whales and Rocky Geyer (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) for
providing and interpreting water temperature data relatedto the observations of thermal flukeprints (courtesy of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority). We also appreciate constructive conversations with Iain Kerr (Ocean Alliance), Chris Zadra (Ocean Alliance), and Joy Reidenberg (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai). Funding was provided by a Woods Hole Oceanographic Research Opportunity grant, the North Pond Foundation, and NMFS NA14OAR4320158.
Keywords:
Cetaceans
;
Drone
;
Health
;
Marine mammals
;
Remote sensing
;
Temperature
;
UAVs
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
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