Data from: Baseline data collection on Cetaceans and Seabirds in the outer continental shelf and slope of northern California and Oregon to inform offshore wind energy development
Data files
Oct 01, 2026 version files 15.68 KB
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MOSAIC_samples_for_Dryad.csv
13.36 KB
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README.md
2.32 KB
Abstract
A key challenge for mitigating negative impact associated with human use of the ocean is to manage overlap with marine wildlife in space and time. Effective management of overlap depends on an understanding of distribution of species and populations at risk in space and time. Species distribution models (SDMs) are an increasingly powerful and effective analytic tool for quantifying and predicting distribution. These models combine species and environmental data into algorithms that can be used to predict species’ occurrence based on key static and dynamic environmental variables. This project creates SDMs and ensemble density surfaces from multiple, complementary data streams to produce distribution maps for seabirds and cetaceans in the Northern California Current (NCC). For humpback whales, the NCC is feeding habitat for individuals from breeding grounds representing three Distinct Population Segments (DPS): Hawaii, Mexico and Central America. Each DPS has a different recovery status under the U.S. Endangered Species Act; unlisted, threatened and endangered, respectively. DNA profiles generated from 66 biopsy samples collected in the NCC, along with reference DNA profiles, were used to assign individuals to DPS. This information further contextualized ensembled season-specific density maps produced for humpback whales.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.1rn8pk19k
Description of the data and file structure
This file (MOSAIC_samples_for_Dryad.csv) contains DNA profiles generated from 66 humpback whale samples collected as part of the following study;
Ballance LT, Baker CS, Barlow DR, Becker EA, Calambokidis J, Irvine LM, Kennerley WL, Lagerquist BA, Orben RA, Pearson EJ, Stafford KM, Steel DJ, Torres LG, Wicker J. (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,Camarillo, CA). 2026. Baseline data collection on cetaceans and seabirds in the outer continental shelf and slope of northern California and Oregon to inform offshore wind energy development. Newport (OR): U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. xx p. Report No.: OCS Study BOEM 20xx-xxx. Contract No.:DE-EE0009800.
DNA profiles were generated following methods described in Baker;
Baker, C., Steel, D., Calambokidis, J., Falcone, E., Gonzalez-Peral, U., Barlow, J., Burdin, A., Clapham, P. J., Ford, J., Gabriele, C. M., Mattila, D., Rojas-Bracho, L., Straley, J., Taylor, B. L., Urban, J., Wade, P. R., Weller, D., Witteveen, B., & Yamaguchi, M. (2013). Strong maternal fidelity and natal philopatry shape genetic structure in North Pacific humpback whales. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 494, 291-306. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10508
Files and variables
File is a .csv with a header followed by 66 lines of DNA profiles. Missing values are coded as 0's. Each profile contains the following information;
- genetic ID - individual ID number
- Lab ID - Lab identifier
- Collection date - date of sample collection
- Field code - identifier given to sample at time of collection
- Region - region sample collected in
- Latitude and Longitude - location of sample collection
- genetic sex - sex as identified by genetic analysis
- mtDNA haplotype - haplotype code given to 500bp sequence of mitochondrial DNA control region
- allele calls for 15 nuclear microsatellite loci (EV14, EV37, EV96, GATA28, GATA417, GT211, GT23, GT575, rw4-10, rw48, EV1, EV104, EV21, EV94, rw31)