With the aim of better understanding the habitats and uses of cetaceans, the Institute of Industrial Systems and Technologies for Advanced Manufacturing of the National Research Council (Cnr-Stiima) of Bari conducted a study using artificial intelligence technologies for the first time , in collaboration with the Jonian Dolphin Conservation (JDC), the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change Foundation (Cmcc), the Department of Biosciences, Biotechnology and the Environment and the Department of Computer Science of the University of Bari and the School of Engineering of the University of Basilicata. The research is published in Scientific Reports.
“Cetaceans are exposed to multiple stresses of an anthropic nature and to climate change. Assessing the conservation status of these species therefore becomes strategic for setting up effective sustainable management plans for the sea resource and, at the same time, for the conservation of critical areas for marine fauna of Community interest”, explains Rosalia Camiseta, intelligence expert artificial of the Cnr-Stiima. “To do this, we used environmental descriptors provided by the CMCC Foundation and obtained through the use of spatial remote sensing techniques and numerical modeling products of the European Marine Core Service, which provide a wide range of information in relation to the data collected on the environment in which dolphins live, for the first time investigated and presented in a scientific study. By exploiting the information contained in the environmental descriptors provided by the Copernicus Service, artificial intelligences have made it possible to predict the abundance of the three most common toothed whales in the northern Ionian Sea: the striped dolphin, the bottlenose dolphin and the Risso’s dolphin”.
“Artificial intelligences have shown that the concentration of inorganic nutrients, such as nitrates, phytoplankton, temperature and salinity, are the environmental variables that most influence the distribution and abundance of the cetaceans being studied. In fact, as highlighted by the analyzes conducted by ecologists of the Department of Biosciences, Biotechnologies and the Environment of the University of Bari, these specific environmental parameters of the marine habitat are directly linked to primary production and, therefore, to the abundant presence of prey”, explains Roberto Carlucci of the University of Bari.
“The sighting data collected in the study area by the Jonian Dolphin Conservation Association, over a period of more than 10 years, between the summer of 2009 and that of 2022, was precious for the examination of the habitat, according to a strict scientific protocol. The Citizen Science activities developed by the association, with the involvement of citizens, students and tourists, have also proved to be strategic for the acquisition of this data over time”, concludes Maglia. “The study, with its multidisciplinary character, brings advances and new knowledge on the use of the habitat by these odontocetes. Furthermore, the analysis and study strategy developed could also be effectively applied in other geographical areas and on different cetacean species”.