Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Aerial survey of Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) in the Pechora Sea, August 2011

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Polar Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Basic knowledge of the population biology of Atlantic walruses throughout the eastern parts of their range, including the Pechora Sea, is scarce or nonexistent. Herein, we present the first estimate of walrus numbers from the Pechora Sea based on an aerial survey of 2,563 km of coastline, using a combination of infrared techniques and digital imagery. Hauled out walruses were found at three sites (Vaygach Island and two sites on Matveyev Island). A total of 968 animals were counted on aerial photographs; all of the animals appeared to be males. Crude measurements of dorsal curvilinear lengths of a subset of the photographed animals (N = 504) showed that many were adults, but 14.5 % belonged to younger age classes (shorter than 225 cm). Using an adjustment factor developed for male walruses in Svalbard, to account for animals at sea during the survey, the number of walruses occupying this area was estimated to be 3,943 (95 % CI, 3,605–4,325). No females with calves were seen in this survey, implying that the population that uses the Pechora Sea during summer has a distributional area that is larger than the survey area. Extensive oil exploration, development and production are currently taking place in the Pechora Sea. Risks posed to walruses and their prey by these industrial activities should be assessed immediately, and the genetic delineations of this population should be clarified.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acquarone M, Born EW, Speakman JR (2006) Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) field metabolic rate measured by the doubly labeled water method. Aquat Mamm 32:363–369

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adrianov VV (2004) Structure of walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) aggregations on ice in the southeastern Barents Sea. In: Marine mammals of the Holarctic, collection of scientific papers after the 3rd international conference, October 11–17, 2004, Koktebel, Ukraine, pp 27–28

  • Andersen LW, Born EW, Gjertz I, Wiig Ø, Holm L-E, Bendixen C (1998) Population structure and gene flow of the Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) in the eastern Atlantic Arctic based on mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite variation. Mol Ecol 7:1323–1336

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Boltunov AE, Belikov SE, Gorbunov YA, Menis DT, Semenova VS (2010) The Atlantic walrus in the southeastern Barents Sea and adjacent areas: review of present-day status. WWF-Russia and Marine Mammal Council, Russia. http://www.2mn.org/downloads/bookshelf/atl_walr_2010.pdf

  • Born EW, Knutsen LØ (1997) Haul-out and diving activity of male Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) in NE Greenland. J Zool Lond 243:381–396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Born EW, Dietz R, Heide-Jørgensen M-P, Knutsen LØ (1997) Historical and present distribution, abundance and exploitation of Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus L.) in eastern Greenland. Meddr Grønland Biosci 46:1–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Born EW, Andersen LW, Gjertz I, Wiig Ø (2001) A review of the genetic relationships of Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) east and west of Greenland. Polar Biol 24:713–718

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Born EW, Rysgaard S, Ehlme G, Sejr M, Acquarone M, Levermann N (2003) Underwater observations of foraging free-living Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) and estimates of their food consumption. Polar Biol 26:348–357

    Google Scholar 

  • Born EW, Acquarone M, Knutsen LØ, Toudal L (2005) Homing behaviour in an Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus). Aquat Mamm 31:23–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fay FH (1981) Walrus Odobenus rosmarus (Linnaeus, 1758). In: Ridgway SH, Harrison JH (eds) Handbook of marine mammals. The walrus, sea lions, fur seal and sea otter, vol 1. Academic Press, London, pp 1–23

    Google Scholar 

  • Gjertz I, Wiig Ø (1994) Past and present distribution of walruses in Svalbard. Arctic 47:34–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Gjertz I, Griffiths D, Krafft BA, Lydersen C, Wiig Ø (2001) Diving and haul-out patterns of walruses Odobenus rosmarus on Svalbard. Polar Biol 24:314–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goryaev YI, Vorontsov AV (2000) Observations of bearded and ringed seals and Atlantic walruses in the Kara and Barents Seas in winter-spring period 2000. In: Marine mammals of the Holarctic, collection of scientific papers after the 1st international conference, September 21–23, 2000, Archangelsk, Russia, pp 95–98

  • Goryaev YI, Ezhov A, Vorontsov AV (2006) Vessel based observations of Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) in the southeastern part of the Barents Sea. In: Marine mammals of the Holarctic, collection of scientific papers after the 4th international conference, September 10–14, 2000, St. Petersburg, Russia, pp 145–146

  • Haug T, Nilssen KT (1995) Observations of walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) in the southeastern Barents and Pechora Seas in February 1993. Polar Res 14:83–86

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jay CV, Farley SD, Garner GW (2001) Summer diving behavior of male walruses in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Mar Mammal Sci 17:617–631

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knutsen LØ, Born EW (1994) Body growth in Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) from Greenland. J Zool Lond 234:371–385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lukin LR (1978) Time and regions of whelping of the Atlantic walrus. Sovj J Ecol 9:483–484

    Google Scholar 

  • Lydersen C, Aars J, Kovacs KM (2008) Estimating the number of walruses in Svalbard from aerial surveys and behavioural data from satellite telemetry. Arctic 61:119–128

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaren IA (1993) Growth in pinnipeds. Biol Rev 68:1–79

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nikiforov VV, Boltunov AN (2010) The Atlantic walrus in the area of Vaigach Island according to results of inquiry of native people in the village of Varnek. In: Marine mammals of the Holarctic, collection of scientific papers after the 6th International conference, October 11–15, 2010, Kaliningrad, Russia, pp 433–435

  • Scheffer VB (1967) Standard measurements of seals. J Mammal 48:459–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Semenova V, Knizhnikov A, Boltunov A, Yevtushenko N (2011) Studying population of Atlantic walrus in Barents Sea using space technologies. Zeml Kosm 10:89–90 (In Russian with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Speckman SG, Chernook VI, Burn DM, Udevitz MS, Kochnev AA, Vasilev A, Jay CV (2011) Results and evaluation of a survey to estimate Pacific walrus population size, 2006. Mar Mammal Sci 27:514–553

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Svetochev VN, Svetocheva ON (2008) Distribution of Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus L.) in the White, Barents and Kara seas in 2004–2007. In: Marine mammals of the Holarctic, collection of scientific papers after the 5th International conference, October 14–18, 2008, Odessa, Russia, pp 543–544

  • Zyryanov SV, Vorontsov AV (1999) Observations of Atlantic walruses, Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus, in the southeastern Barents Sea and in the Kara Sea in spring 1997. Zool J 78:1254–1256 (In Russian with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Norwegian Polar Institute and the Marine Mammal Council (Russia). We thank Dariya Kuznetsova, Evgeniy Nazarenko, Boris Soloviev, Vladislav Svetochev and Aleksander Vasiliev for their help in the field, and Jan Roald and Anders Skoglund for their help with the figures. Rob Stewart and two anonymous reviewers provided comments that helped us improve the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, 9296, Tromsø, Norway

    Christian Lydersen & Kit M. Kovacs

  2. Research and Design Institute for Fishing Fleet “Gyprorybflot”, 18-20 Malaya Morskaya Street, St Petersburg, 190000, Russia

    Vladimir I. Chernook

  3. A. N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskiy prospect, Moscow, 119071, Russia

    Dmitri M. Glazov

  4. St Petersburg State University, 7/9 Universitetskaya emb., St Petersburg, 199034, Russia

    Irina S. Trukhanova

Authors
  1. Christian Lydersen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Vladimir I. Chernook
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dmitri M. Glazov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Irina S. Trukhanova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Kit M. Kovacs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christian Lydersen.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (PDF 67 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lydersen, C., Chernook, V.I., Glazov, D.M. et al. Aerial survey of Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) in the Pechora Sea, August 2011. Polar Biol 35, 1555–1562 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-012-1195-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-012-1195-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation