2017 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 2017. Such annual flights in winter/spring between Cape Leeuwin (Western Australia) and Ceduna (South Australia) have now been conducted over a 25-year period 1993-2017. 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

本数据集为2017年8月采集的澳大利亚南部海域南露脊鲸（Eubalaena australis）航空调查数据。此类于冬季/春季在西澳大利亚州卢因角与南澳大利亚州塞杜纳之间开展的年度航空调查，目前已持续覆盖1993至2017年共25年的时间跨度。本次调查结果显示，被认定为澳大利亚西部露脊鲸亚群的种群年均增长率约为6%，2014年时其种群规模约为2300头。该亚群的估算种群规模处于数千头量级，推测其仍远低于环境容纳量。分布于澳大利亚南部海岸其余区域（至少延伸至新南威尔士州悉尼一带）的东部露脊鲸亚群，暂无种群趋势相关数据，其种群规模相对较小，约为数百头量级。2015年西部亚群的观测数量低于预期，仅能提供弱证据表明其增长率或已出现放缓迹象，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，则未来的调查结果或将呈现指数增长趋势；若该值并非异常值，则后续研究可尝试采用非简单指数增长模型开展种群增长模拟。