OCCURRENCE

Data on cetacean strandings (1999 - 2014) on the Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and adjoining areas

Latest version published by Ukrainian Scientific Centre of Ecology of the Sea (UkrSCES) on 17 October 2017 Ukrainian Scientific Centre of Ecology of the Sea (UkrSCES)
This dataset contains data on cetacean strandings collected from 1999 to 2014 on the coastal areas of the Black sea and the Sea of Azov. Observations were conducted by Pavel Gol'din and Karina Vishnyakova, with the help provided by D. Markov, E. Gladilina, E. Gol'din, V. Sokhin, E. Kushnir, V. Serbin, Yu. Lyashenko, L. Godlevska, A. Nadolny, M. Kovalyova, O. Savenko, N. Kukharev and other colleagues and volunteers who took part in the field excursions and provided information on strandings.

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 227 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Downloads

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 227 records in English (12 kB) - Update frequency: as needed
Metadata as an EML file download in English (15 kB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (11 kB)

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Vishnyakova K, Gol'din P (2016): Data on cetacean strandings (1999 - 2013) on the Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov and adjoining areas. v1.3. Ukrainian Scientific Centre of Ecology of the Sea (UkrSCES). Dataset/Occurrence. http://gp.sea.gov.ua:8082/ipt/resource?r=cetacean_strandings_data_bs_as&v=1.3

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Ukrainian Scientific Centre of Ecology of the Sea (UkrSCES). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC) 4.0 License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: d4368fa0-ffbe-4cb8-8e32-7bb902e3656d.  Ukrainian Scientific Centre of Ecology of the Sea (UkrSCES) publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Ocean Biodiversity Information System.

Keywords

Occurrence; Black Sea; The Sea of Azov; cetaceans; Phocoena; Delphinus; Tursiops; Observation; strandings

Contacts

Who created the resource:

Karina Vishnyakova
Scientific Researcher
Ukrainian Scientific Centre of Ecology of the Sea
89, Frantsuzskyi Blv.
65009 Odesa
UA
+38 0482 63-73-34

Who can answer questions about the resource:

Pavel Gol'din
Senior Researcher
I. I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology
15 B. Khmelnytskogo Street
01030 Kyiv
UA
+38 044 2351070
http://www.izan.kiev.ua/eng/deps/depmorph/goldin.htm

Who filled in the metadata:

Karina Vishnyakova
Scientific Researcher
Ukrainian Scientific Center of Ecology of the Sea
89 Frantsuzsky Blvd.
65009 Odesa
UA
+38 0482 636622
Pavel Gol'din
Senior Researcher
I. I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology
15 B. Khmelnytskogo Street
01030 Kyiv
UA
+38 044 2351070
http://www.izan.kiev.ua/eng/deps/depmorph/goldin.htm

Who else was associated with the resource:

Distributor
Oleksandr Neprokin
Head of Department
Ukrainian Scientific Centre of Ecology of the Sea
89, Frantsuzskyi Blv.
65009 Odesa
UA
+38 0482 637334
https://www.oceanexpert.net/expert/19193

Geographic Coverage

Observation were conducted on the coastal areas of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov in Ukraine and adjoining areas of Russia (Taman Peninsula).

Bounding Coordinates South West [44.245, 29.4], North East [46.94, 38]

Taxonomic Coverage

Three cetacean species inhabiting the region have been recorded.

Subspecies  Phocoena phocoena relicta (Harbour porpoise),  Tursiops truncatus ponticus (Bottlenose dolphin),  Delphinus delphis ponticus (Common dolphin)

Temporal Coverage

Start Date / End Date 1999-05-01 / 2014-12-31

Project Data

The dissertation is the first complex comparison of two cetacean populations in the Black Sea region by morphological and demographic criteria. Due to different habitat conditions and reproductive isolation, porpoises diverge at least into two populations which are separated by little distance. Azov porpoises are larger than those from the north-eastern Black Sea in overall body size, and they are also distinct in their body proportions. Notably, extremely small animals were observed during the period of study. Also, Azov and Black Sea porpoises significantly differ in skull size and proportions, and they can be discriminated with 100% success just by four skull measurements. It is suggested that the skull shape is an adaptation to different habitat conditions. Life span in the north-eastern Black Sea is very long, up to 23 years which is close to maximum, whereas in the Sea of Azov it is short and declining. Generation time varies between 6.5 and 7.5 years, also being greater in the Black Sea. For the first time comparative demography of two porpoise population was studied in the eastern hemisphere. Life tables with bycatch estimates were obtained based on Siler models, using Bayesian interference (Moore and Read, 2008). It was found that despite extremely high fecundity (95%), incidental bycatch eliminates so big portion of juvenile and sub-adult animals that the definite number of adult females is too small for enabling sustainable population growth. However, seasonal maximum of porpoise mortality does not coincide with season of intensive fish catches in the Sea of Azov. On the contrary, stranding peaks follow reproductive seasonality, and in the sea of Azov they occur a month later than in the Black Sea. The stranding rate in the Sea of Azov is extremely high in comparison with other world region due to physical conditions in the shallow sea and high bycatch rate. It is shown that the Azov population was already affected by burden of bycatch in early 2000s, and despite bycatch reduction during 2003-10, it became exhausted. Population dynamics was reconstructed, based on survival and mortality rates obtained from three demographic models for 2000-02, 2006-08 and 2011-13. Therefore, in 2001-13 the abundance of the Azov population declined more than twice. The greatest factor of mortality was incidental bycatch. In some years, its contribution into population decline reached 25%. Bycatch is the main cause of decline of porpoise populations in the whole region. Time-area closure measures were proposed as the main recommendation for conservation of the endangered population.

Title The harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) in the Sea of Azov and the north-eastern Black Sea: population morphology and demography.
Study Area Description The project was focused on the southern coast of the Sea of Azov and north-eastern coast of the Black sea, with adding some data from adjoining areas.

The personnel involved in the project:

Author
Karina Vishnyakova
Principal Investigator
Pavel Gol'din

Sampling Methods

The data for this study were obtained in the course of routine regular monitoring surveys of the 35-km-long coastal area on the southern side of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait west to the Fonar Cape during 15 years, in 1999–2014 (except 2004), a 15-km-long coastal area between Novofedorovka and Nikolaevka on the northern Black Sea coast in Crimea, and irregular findings on other coastal areas. All skeletal remains and incomplete carcasses, as well as carcasses at various stages of decomposition, were recorded. Age, sex and status of sexual maturity were identified.

Study Extent The project was focused on the southern coast of the Sea of Azov and north-eastern coast of the Black sea, with adding some data from adjoining areas.

Method step description:

  1. All the findings were recorded following a standard protocol which included geographical coordinates, all the biological characteristics, and, since 2005, photographs of a carcass identifying its species and environmental conditions.

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Vishnyakova, K., Gol’din, P. 2015. Seasonality of strandings and bycatch of harbour porpoises in the Sea of Azov: the effects of fisheries, weather conditions and life history. ICES Journal of Marine Science 72(3): 981–991.
  2. Vishnyakova, K., Gol’din, P. 2015. Seasonality of strandings and bycatch of harbour porpoises in the Sea of Azov: the effects of fisheries, weather conditions and life history. ICES Journal of Marine Science 72(3): 981–991. Vishnyakova, K., Gol’din, P. 2015. Cetacean stranding rate correlates with fish stock dynamics: Research of harbour porpoises in the Sea of Azov. Marine Biology 162:359–366.
  3. Gol’din, P. E., Vishnyakova, K. A., Gladilina, E. V. 2013. Taphonomy of stranded small cetaceans: general aspects and impact of the coast Scientific Notes of Taurida V.I. Vernadsky National University. Series Biology, chemistry. 26 (65), 3. – P. 45–53
  4. Gol’din, P. E. 2008. Findings of cetaceans at the coast of Crimea in 1999-2003. In: Findings of Animals Listed in The Red Data Book of Ukraine. – Kiev. – P. 54–61. (In Ukrainian).

Additional Metadata

marine, harvested by iOBIS

Alternative Identifiers d4368fa0-ffbe-4cb8-8e32-7bb902e3656d
http://gp.sea.gov.ua:8082/ipt/resource?r=cetacean_strandings_data_bs_as