Australian iPCoD for measuring baleen whale population consequence of disturbance from offshore energy developments (NESP MaC 4.9)

This project developed an interim Population Consequence of Disturbance (iPCoD) model for blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus) and southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) to document a methodology for assessing population-level impacts of one, or multiple, wind farm developments off the southern Australian coast. The iPCoD model was developed in Europe to quantify how disturbances of individuals caused by physiological injury or changes in behaviour can have population-level consequences in data poor marine mammal populations. This model was adapted to suit Australian marine mammal species, highlighting key data gaps for locally threatened populations that overlap in range with the declared offshore wind areas in Australia. Due to the lack of baseline data currently available, this study documented a framework that can be updated as more information becomes available. We outlined how to leverage simulation-based population modelling as a tool for policymakers, industry and management authorities, to aid in environmental impact assessments, with a specific focus on data poor marine mammal populations.

Simple

Identification info

Date (Publication)
2025-02-16T00:00:00

Identifier

Title
Information and documentation - Digital object identifier system
Citation identifier
ISO 26324:2012

Code
10.25959/AEKC-B454
Codespace
doi.org
Description
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Principal investigator

The University of Queensland - Volzke, Sophia
Queensland
Australia
ROR ID >

ORCID >

Principal investigator

The University of Queensland - Dunlop, Rebecca
Queensland
Australia
ROR ID >

ORCID >

Collaborator

SMRU Consulting (UK) - Booth, Cormac
ORCID >

Credit
National Environmental Science Program (NESP) Marine and Coastal Hub
Status
Completed

Point of contact

The University of Queensland - Volzke, Sophia
Queensland
Australia
ROR ID >

ORCID >

Point of contact

The University of Queensland - Dunlop, Rebecca
Queensland
Australia
ROR ID >

ORCID >

Topic category
  • Oceans

Extent



Temporal extent

Time period
2024-08-08 2025-02-06
Maintenance and update frequency
Not planned
Keywords (Theme)
  • population
  • demography
  • impact assessment
  • threatened species
  • conservation and management
  • offshore renewable energy
Keywords (Taxon)
  • Balaenoptera musculus
  • Blue whale
  • Pygmy blue whale
  • Eubalaena australis
  • Southern right whale
Global Change Master Directory Earth Science Keywords, Version 8.5
AODN Discovery Parameter Vocabulary
AODN Geographic Extents Vocabulary

Resource constraints

Other constraints
This dataset is hosted by the University of Tasmania, on behalf of The University of Queensland and NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Project 4.9.

Resource constraints

Use limitation
Data was sourced from the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub – the Marine and Coastal Hub is supported through funding from the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program (NESP), administered by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

Resource constraints

Linkage
https://licensebuttons.net/l/by-nc/4.0/88x31.png

License Graphic

Title
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Alternate title
CC-BY-NC
Edition
4.0


>

Website
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

License Text

Other constraints
Cite data as: Volzke, S., Dunlop, R., & Booth, C. (2025). Australian iPCoD for measuring baleen whale population consequence of disturbance from offshore energy developments [Data set]. NESP Marine and Coastal Hub. https://doi.org/10.25959/AEKC-B454
Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Content Information

Content type
Physical measurement

Identifier

Code
Abundance of biota
Name
Number per year

Distribution Information

Distribution format
  • .rdata files and .R code

OnLine resource
DATA ACCESS - browse & download iPCoD model outputs and associated scripts/resources

Data available in both original R format [R-users], and in an extracted (flattened) CSV format [non-R users]

Resource lineage

Statement
Publicly available sighting records of blue whales and southern right whales were extracted and used to compute best estimates of the number of individuals at risk of exposure within the spatial extent of the proposed offshore wind farm developments in southeastern Australia. Noise disturbance from pile driving activities was assumed to be the main cause of disturbance from development activities. From this, we generated preliminary radial noise exposure zones used as inputs to the iPCoD model. The iPCoD methodology was adjusted to fit the demography and life history of Australian blue and southern right whales. To demonstrate the potential of this methodology, we simulated two scenarios of disturbance: • Scenario 1: noise from wind farm developments causes behavioural disturbance only. • Scenario 2: noise from wind farm developments cause both behavioural disturbance and physical injury. This approach identified key data gaps and outlines research priorities for collecting more baseline data to improve modelled scenarios of disturbance. A framework of steps was developed that can be used to model disturbance when detailed information becomes available. Simulations were run in R Studio using R version 4.3.3. ---FILE STRUCTURE--- Files: (1) summary_statistics_SV2.R provides code to reproduce graphs and visualise results, supported by (2) SUMMARY_FUNCTIONS_SV.R which includes the functions used in the above file. The above access the following output data files: (3) iPCoD_EE_S1_BW_Output.rdata (4) iPCoD_EE_S1_SRW_Output.rdata (5) iPCoD_EE_S2_BW_Output.rdata (6) iPCoD_EE_S2_SRW_Output.rdata The acronyms used above are as follows: # iPCoD = interim Population Consequence of Disturbance # EE = Expert elicitation # SRW = Southern right whale # BW = Blue whale # S1 = Scenario 1 - behavioural disturbance only # S2 = Scenario 2 - behavioural disturbance + 1 physical injury See ReadMe.txt files contained within the data download package for a full description of the model outputs.
Hierarchy level
Dataset
Hierarchy level
Dataset

Metadata

Metadata identifier
urn:uuid/57edb110-1918-4bd4-9e6f-dc03737baeaf

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distributor

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies - Emma Flukes (NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Data Manager (Southern node))
Parent metadata

Type of resource

Resource scope
Dataset
Metadata linkage
https://metadata.imas.utas.edu.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/57edb110-1918-4bd4-9e6f-dc03737baeaf

Point of truth URL of this metadata record

Date info (Creation)
2024-12-20T00:00:00
Date info (Revision)
2025-03-03T09:04:14

Metadata standard

Title
ISO 19115-3:2018
 
 

Overviews

P1_PopTrajectory_S1.png
P2_PopGrowth_S1.png
P1_PopTrajectory_S2.png
P2_PopGrowth_S2.png

Spatial extent

Keywords

conservation and management demography impact assessment offshore renewable energy population threatened species
AODN Discovery Parameter Vocabulary
Abundance of biota
Global Change Master Directory Earth Science Keywords, Version 8.5
ANIMAL ECOLOGY AND BEHAVIOR CONSERVATION

Provided by

Share on social sites

Access to the record in catalogue

Associated resources

Not available