Biology Letters (2014)
Animals exposed to anthropogenic disturbance make trade-offs between perceived risk and the cost of leaving disturbed areas. Impact assessments tend to focus on overt behavioural responses leading to displacement, but…
Determining genotypes from blowhole exhalation samples of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)
Borowska, Ewa I.; Nowak, Zuzanna; van Elk, Cornelis; Wahlberg, Magnus
Aquatic Mammals (2014)
(...) It is currently not known if DNA could be obtained from blowhole exhalations of smaller- toothed whales, such as harbour porpoises, with much smaller exhalation volumes than bottlenose dolphins.…
Life history of harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in Scottish (UK) waters
Learmonth, Jennifer A.; Murphy, Sinead; Luque, Patricia L.; Reid, Robert J.; Patterson, I. Anthony P.; Brownlow, Andrew; Ross, Harry M.; Barley, Jason P.; Begoña Santos, M.; Pierce, Graham J.
Mar Mam Sci (2014)
Life history parameters were determined for stranded and bycaught harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from Scottish (UK) waters (1992–2005). Fetal growth rate was 84.4 mm/mo and mean size at birth was…
Baltic Sea harbour porpoise populations: status and conservation needs derived from recent survey results
Benke, H.; Bräger, S.; Dähne, M.; Gallus, A.; Hansen, S.; Honnef, C. G.; Jabbusch, M.; Koblitz, J. C.; Krügel, K.; Liebschner, A.; Narberhaus, I.; Verfuß, U. K.
Marine Ecology Progress Series (2014)
During recent decades, the 2 distinct harbour porpoise populations of the Baltic Sea have decreased sharply in abundance. The Baltic Proper population is down to a few hundred individuals and…
Direct evidence for gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) predation and scavenging on harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)
Bouveroux, Thibaut; Kiszka, Jeremy J.; Heithaus, Michael R.; Jauniaux, Thierry; Pezeril, Sylvain
Mar Mam Sci (2014)
(...) gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) consumption of harbor porpoises—whether predation or scavenging—might reflect a change in gray seal feeding habits in the southern North Sea (Haelters et al. 2012), where…
Effects of noise and by-catch on a Danish harbour porpoise population
Nabe-Nielsen, Jacob; Sibly, Richard M.; Tougaard, Jakob; Teilmann, Jonas; Sveegaard, Signe
Ecological Modelling (2014)
Ships and wind turbines generate noise, which can have a negative impact on marine mammal populations by scaring animals away. Effective modelling of how this affects the populations has to…
Genetic diversity and population structure of the critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) as revealed by mitochondrial and microsatellite DNA
Chen, Minmin; Zheng, Jinsong; Wu, Min; Ruan, Rui; Zhao, Qingzhong; Wang, Ding
International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2014)
Ecological surveys have indicated that the population of the critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise (YFP, Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) is becoming increasingly small and fragmented, and will be at high risk…
Do man-made structures and water depth affect the diel rhythms in click recordings of harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena)?
Brandt, Miriam J.; Hansen, Sophie; Diederichs, Ansgar; Nehls, Georg
Mar Mam Sci (2014)
The construction of industrial offshore structures may lead to colonization by a variety of marine organisms resulting in locally enhanced biodiversity and biomass, which may then affect the habitat use…
Unique feeding morphology in a new prognathous extinct porpoise from the Pliocene of California
Racicot, Rachel A.; Deméré, Thomas A.; Beatty, Brian L.; Boessenecker, Robert W.
Current Biology (2014)
Modern porpoises (Odontoceti: Phocoenidae) are some of the smallest cetaceans and usually feed near the seafloor on small fish and cephalopods. Within both extinct and extant phocoenids, no evidence for…
Exposing the grey seal as a major predator of harbour porpoises
Leopold, M. F.; Begeman, L.; van Bleijswijk, J. D. L.; IJsseldijk, L. L.; Witte, H. J.; Grone, A.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2014)
Harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) stranding in large numbers around the southern North Sea with fatal, sharp-edged mutilations have spurred controversy among scientists, the fishing industry and conservationists, whose views about…