Title
Climate change and the northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) population in Baja California, Mexico
Author
M. Concepción García-Aguilar
Contributor
CUAUHTEMOC TURRENT THOMPSON (Collaborator)
FERNANDO RICARDO ELORRIAGA VERPLANCKEN (Collaborator)
ALEJANDRO ARIAS DEL RAZO (Collaborator)
Yolanda Schramm Urrutia (Collaborator)
Access level
Open Access
Alternative identifier
doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193211
Subjects
air temperature, article, Baja California, climate change, human, Mirounga angustirostris, nonhuman, population size, warming, animal, ecosystem, environmental protection, Mexico, Phocidae, population density, population migration, temperature, Anima - (SCOPUS) CIENCIAS FÍSICO MATEMÁTICAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA - (CTI) CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA Y DEL ESPACIO - (CTI) OCEANOGRAFÍA - (CTI) OCEANOGRAFÍA - (CTI)
Summary or description
The Earth0s climate is warming, especially in the mid- and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) breeds and haul-outs on islands and the mainland of Baja California, Mexico, and California, U.S.A. At the beginning of the 21st century, numbers of elephant seals in California are increasing, but the status of Baja California populations is unknown, and some data suggest they may be decreasing. We hypothesize that the elephant seal population of Baja California is experiencing a decline because the animals are not migrating as far south due to warming sea and air temperatures. Here we assessed population trends of the Baja California population, and climate change in the region. The numbers of northern elephant seals in Baja California colonies have been decreasing since the 1990s, and both the surface waters off Baja California and the local air temperatures have warmed during the last three decades. We propose that declining population sizes may be attributable to decreased migration towards the southern portions of the range in response to the observed temperature increases. Further research is needed to confirm our hypothesis; however, if true, it would imply that elephant seal colonies of Baja California and California are not demographically isolated which would pose challenges to environmental and management policies between Mexico and the United States. © 2018 García-Aguilar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Publisher
William J. Etges, University of Arkansas, United States of America
Publish date
2018
Publication type
Article
Publication version
Published Version
Information Resource
Format
application/pdf
Source
PLoS ONE, Vol.13, No.2, Pags. 1-15
Language
English
Citation suggestion
García-Aguilar MC, Turrent C, Elorriaga-Verplancken FR, Arias-Del-Razo A, Schramm Y (2018) Climate change and the northern elephant seal (Mirounga angustirostris) population in Baja California, Mexico. PLoS ONE 13(2): e0193211. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193211
Source repository
Repositorio Institucional CICESE
Downloads
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