Incorporating prey fields into North Atlantic right whale density surface models
Published in Endangered Species Research, 2025
Recommended citation: Ross, C.H., Roberts, J.J., Pendleton, D.E., Brady, D.C., Stamieszkin, K., & Record, N.R. (2025). "Incorporating prey fields into North Atlantic right whale density surface models." Endangered Species Research, 58, 67–84. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01435 http://chross22.github.io/files/paper7.pdf
Predictions of North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) distributions are an increasingly important conservation tool for this Critically Endangered species, which feeds primarily on calanoid copepods, especially Calanus finmarchicus. This study tested whether incorporating prey distributions and characteristics into right whale density surface models (DSMs) improves predicted whale distribution relative to conventional prey proxies such as chlorophyll concentration. Building on prior work developing C. finmarchicus prey fields, the authors extended the approach to two additional prey taxa — Centropages typicus and Pseudocalanus spp. — and tested a suite of prey and prey-proxy covariates within a simplified DSM framework. The top-performing model combined all three copepod prey fields and produced density predictions consistent with observed right whale distribution patterns, with density concentrated in the deep basins of the Gulf of Maine and the Great South Channel and increasing in summer months. The results support continued investment in prey monitoring and tailored prey-field development as a means of improving right whale conservation tools.
Recommended citation: Ross, C.H., Roberts, J.J., Pendleton, D.E., Brady, D.C., Stamieszkin, K., & Record, N.R. (2025). “Incorporating prey fields into North Atlantic right whale density surface models.” Endangered Species Research, 58, 67–84.