Efecto de una epidemia de morbillivirus sobre la supervivencia de diferentes grupos de calderones comunes en el Mediterráneo occidental

During winter 2006-07, the long-finned pilot whale groups living in the occidental Mediterranean Sea went through a Morbillivirus epizootic which saw 27 individuals strand on the coast. Since 2011, this species is classed as “Vulnerable” in the National Catalogue of Threaten Species, largely due to this epizootic. The aim of this study is to define Management Unit from photo-identification and estimate the effect of the epizootic on the survival rate. Two management units were found, one in the Strait of Gibraltar and another in the Alboran Sea. In the Strait, the survival rate stayed constant at 0.989 between 1999-2006 but the epizootic caused a decline to 0.779 in 2006-07. In 2007-08 it increased to 0.944 but then followed a lineal decrease tendency down to 0.754 in 2010-11. In the Alboran Sea, only certain social groups were affected with their survival rate going from 0.920 between 1992-2006 to 0.550 between 2007-09. These results show the effect of the epizootic was not only during the first year but continued during various years in both areas. It is important to continue the long-term monitoring program to see how both populations evolve and to develop conservation plans to improve their conservation status.