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Cover Picture and Issue Information
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
methods in ecology and evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.425
H-Index - 105
ISSN - 2041-210X
DOI - 10.1111/2041-210x.12886
Subject(s) - human echolocation , phocoena , cover (algebra) , porpoise , computer science , geography , variety (cybernetics) , population , fishery , data science , information retrieval , ecology , cartography , artificial intelligence , biology , demography , sociology , harbour , mechanical engineering , neuroscience , engineering , programming language
This month's cover pages shows the smallest cetacean in European Waters. Chances to see porpoises ( Phocoena phocoena ) in the wild are scarce. The animals usually only show their small triangular dorsal fin once or twice for a few seconds and dive again for roughly a minute. Even with just wavelets and relatively low winds (Beaufort sea states 3 and above) trying to spot them is a very difficult task. Therefore, porpoise are one of the species that are abundant but very difficult to assess in terms of density and population trends. In this issue, Nuuttila et al. present novel methods to assess abundance of porpoises using stationary methods to detect echolocation activity. They relate the click patterns to the number of porpoises present in an area. By sending out a variety of echolocation clicks and trains they were able to estimate effective detection ranges – one urgent prerequisite to calculate density using acoustics for these discreet small odontocetes. Photo credit: © Michael Dähne/Dolfinarium Harderwijk