Publications by authors named "Michael F Cameron"
Article Synopsis
- Ice-associated seals depend on sea ice for essential activities such as pupping and resting, particularly during the spring months when the ice starts to melt.
- Climate change poses a significant threat to these seals by diminishing the habitat they rely on, making accurate population abundance estimations increasingly necessary for monitoring their conservation status.
- The study utilized satellite-linked bio-loggers to analyze seal behavior, focusing on bearded, ribbon, and spotted seals, to provide data that helps correct aerial survey counts by accounting for those seals that are in water and not visible.
The first year of life is typically the most critical to a pinniped's survival, especially for Arctic phocids which are weaned at only a few weeks of age and left to locate and capture prey on their own. Their seasonal movements and habitat selection are therefore important factors in their survival. During a cooperative effort between scientists and subsistence hunters in October 2004, 2005, and 2006, 13 female and 13 male young (i.
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- Wildlife surveys, particularly for species like polar bears and seals, are complex and costly, but accurate estimates are crucial for population monitoring.
- The study explores the effectiveness of instrument-based aerial surveys that use infrared imagery and digital photography to assess wildlife abundance in the Chukchi Sea, determining the optimal number of flights needed for precise estimations.
- Results indicate that specific flight patterns and survey efforts can yield relatively unbiased abundance estimates, suggesting that this method could be beneficial for large-scale Arctic wildlife monitoring and could serve as a model for other biological surveys.
Ecologists often use transect surveys to estimate the density and abundance of animal populations. Errors in species classification are often evident in such surveys, yet few statistical methods exist to properly account for them. In this paper, we examine biases that result from species misidentification when ignored, and we develop statistical models to provide unbiased estimates of density in the face of such errors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAquatic animals use a variety of strategies to reduce the energetic cost of locomotion. Efficient locomotion is particularly important for breath-holding divers because high levels of exercise may quickly deplete oxygen reserves, leading to the termination of a dive. We investigated the swimming behavior of eight adult Weddell seals, which are proficient divers, in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.
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