Evans K, Thresher R, Warneke R M, Bradshaw C J A, Pook M, Thiele D, Hindell M A
School of Zoology, Antarctic Wildlife Research Unit, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
Biol Lett. 2005 Jun 22;1(2):147-50. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2005.0313.
Cetacean strandings elicit much community and scientific interest, but few quantitative analyses have successfully identified environmental correlates to these phenomena. Data spanning 1920-2002, involving a total of 639 stranding events and 39 taxa groups from southeast Australia, were found to demonstrate a clear 11-13- year periodicity in the number of events through time. These data positively correlated with the regional persistence of both zonal (westerly) and meridional (southerly) winds, reflecting general long-term and large-scale shifts in sea-level pressure gradients. Periods of persistent zonal and meridional winds result in colder and presumably nutrient-rich waters being driven closer to southern Australia, resulting in increased biological activity in the water column during the spring months. These observations suggest that large-scale climatic events provide a powerful distal influence on the propensity for whales to strand in this region. These patterns provide a powerful quantitative framework for testing hypotheses regarding environmental links to strandings and provide managers with a potential predictive tool to prepare for years of peak stranding activity.
鲸类搁浅引发了公众和科学界的广泛关注，但很少有定量分析能够成功确定与这些现象相关的环境因素。研究发现，1920年至2002年期间，澳大利亚东南部共发生639起搁浅事件，涉及39个分类群，随着时间推移，搁浅事件数量呈现出明显的11至13年周期性。这些数据与纬向（西风）和经向（南风）风的区域持续性呈正相关，反映了海平面压力梯度的长期和大规模总体变化。持续的纬向风和经向风时期会导致较冷且可能营养丰富的海水被推向澳大利亚南部更近的地方，从而导致春季几个月水柱中的生物活动增加。这些观察结果表明，大规模气候事件对该地区鲸鱼搁浅的倾向产生了强大的远程影响。这些模式为检验有关搁浅与环境联系的假设提供了一个有力的定量框架，并为管理人员提供了一种潜在的预测工具，以便为搁浅活动高峰期做好准备。
