2016 Aerial survey data of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) off southern Australia

These aerial survey data of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) off southern Australia were collected in August 2016. Such annual flights in winter/spring between Cape Leeuwin (Western Australia) and Ceduna (South Australia) have now been conducted over a 23-year period 1993-2016. These surveys have provided evidence of a population trend of around 6% per year, and a current (at 2014) population size of approximately 2300 of what has been regarded as the 'western' Australian right whale subpopulation. With estimated population size in the low thousands, it is presumed to be still well below carrying capacity. No trend information is available for the 'eastern' subpopulation of animals occurring around the remainder of the southern Australian Coast, to at least as far as Sydney, New South Wales and the populations size is relatively small, probably in the low hundreds. A lower than expected 'western' count in 2015 gives weak evidence that the growth rate may be starting to show signs of slowing, though an exponential increase remains the best description of the data. If the low 2015 count is anomalous, future counts may be expected to show an exponential increase, but if it is not, modelling growth as other than simple exponential may be useful to explore in future.A data update was provided in August, 2020 to correct some incorrectly given longitude values.

2016年8月采集了澳大利亚南部海域南露脊鲸（Eubalaena australis）的航空调查数据。此类于冬春季节在吕文角（西澳大利亚州）与塞杜纳（南澳大利亚州）之间开展的年度航空巡护调查，目前已持续1993至2016年共23年。本次调查系列证实，被认定为澳大利亚‘西部’露脊鲸亚种群的年种群增长趋势约为6%，2014年时该种群的个体数量约为2300头。由于该种群估算规模仅数千头，推测其仍远低于环境容纳量。分布于澳大利亚南部其余沿岸海域（至少延伸至新南威尔士州悉尼一带）的‘东部’露脊鲸亚种群暂无种群趋势相关数据，其种群规模相对较小，约仅数百头。2015年西部种群的观测数量低于预期，仅能提供弱证据表明其增长速率或已显现放缓迹象，但现有数据仍以指数增长模型拟合效果最佳。若2015年的低观测值为异常值，则未来的调查计数或仍将呈现指数增长趋势；但若该值并非异常，则未来可尝试采用非简单指数增长模型开展种群增长拟合研究。2020年8月针对该数据集进行了更新，修正了部分错误标注的经度数值。