Cetaceans along the southeastern Brazilian coast: occurrence, distribution and niche inference at local scale

PeerJ

article

Giovanna Corrêa e Figueiredo¹  Karina Bohrer do Amaral²  Marcos César de Oliveira Santos¹ 

[1]Department of Biological Oceanography, Universidade de São Paulo

[2]Department of Zoology, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

关键词: Niche overlap;    Ecological niche modeling;    Balaenoptera edeni;    Stenella frontalis;    Tursiops truncatus;    Steno bredanensis;    Sotalia guianensis;    Pontoporia blainvillei;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.10000

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

It is deemed important to understand cetacean occurrence and distribution to comprehend their ecological roles. The geographical occurrence of species’ niche can be used to better describe their potential distribution. The niche can be defined using environmental variables. Those variables are considered static and not affected by biological activities. The present study goal was to assess the occurrence and distribution of cetaceans along the southeastern Brazilian coast, as well as to define the fundamental and realized niche of each species and to investigate niche overlap at local scale. The environmental requirements for each species were also investigated throughout statistical tests. Sighting data were obtained through oceanographic surveys conducted between 2012 and 2015. The environmental variables available on MARSPEC and the software NicheA were used for the ecological niche modeling. A total of twelve cetacean species were identified and the potential distribution areas of the six commonest ones were defined. Even though the species presented different environmental preferences, most of them had partial overlap among niches and potential distribution areas. The environmental heterogeneity of the study area might support the co-occurrence of different species with different environmental requirements.

【 授权许可】

CC BY