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Distribution of cetaceans and sea-surface chlorophyll concentrations in the California Current

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Abstract

A census of marine mammals was conducted off the coast of California (USA) in 1979–1980. The distribution of seasurface chlorophyll was determined at the same time by onboard fluorometry and by remote sensing using the Coastal Zone Color Scanner on the Nimbus-7 satellite. Comparisons of species and chlorophyll distributions indicate that marine mammals are not randomly distributed with respect to chlorophyll. Cetaceans were more abundant in the productive coastal waters than in the offshore oceanic waters of the California Current. This supports the hypothesis that the distributions of some cetacean species may be related to the mesoscale features that are manifest in the patterns of chlorophyll as revealed in the satellite imagery. It is suggested that oceanic chlorophyll may be used as a habitat descriptor for selected marine mammals, and that remote sensing will provide complementary data useful in the interpretation of observed distribution patterns of marine mammals and in the estimation of their abundance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California Marine Bio-Optics, Department of Geography, University of California at Santa Barbara, 93106, Santa Barbara, California, USA

    R. C. Smith & E. A. Dunlap

  2. Department of Biology, The College of Charleston, 29424, Charleston, South Carolina, USA

    P. Dustan

  3. National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Center, 92038, La Jolla, California, USA

    D. Au

  4. University of California Marine Bio-Optics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, 92093, La Jolla, California, USA

    K. S. Baker

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  1. R. C. Smith
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Communicated by N. D. Holland, La Jolla

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Smith, R.C., Dustan, P., Au, D. et al. Distribution of cetaceans and sea-surface chlorophyll concentrations in the California Current. Mar. Biol. 91, 385–402 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00428633

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