Cetacean strandings elicit much community and scientific interest, but few quantitative analyses have successfully identified environmental correlates to these phenomena. Data spanning 1920-2002, involving a total of 639 stranding events and 39 taxa groups from southeast Australia, were found to demonstrate a clear 11-13- year periodicity in the number of events through time. These data positively correlated with the regional persistence of both zonal (westerly) and meridional (southerly) winds, reflecting general long-term and large-scale shifts in sea-level pressure gradients. Periods of persistent zonal and meridional winds result in colder and presumably nutrient-rich waters being driven closer to southern Australia, resulting in increased biological activity in the water column during the spring months. These observations suggest that large-scale climatic events provide a powerful distal influence on the propensity for whales to strand in this region. These patterns provide a powerful quantitative framework for testing hypotheses regarding environmental links to strandings and provide managers with a potential predictive tool to prepare for years of peak stranding activity. © 2005 The Royal Society.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Earth Sciences
Research Group:	Oceanography
Research Field:	Physical oceanography
Objective Division:	Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards
Objective Group:	Understanding climate change
Objective Field:	Climate variability (excl. social impacts)
UTAS Author:	Evans, K (Dr Karen Evans)
UTAS Author:	Hindell, MA (Professor Mark Hindell)
ID Code:	34655
Year Published:	2005
Web of Science® Times Cited:	89
Deposited By:	TAFI - Zoology
Deposited On:	2005-08-01
Last Modified:	2011-09-27
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