A new technique to measure spatial relationships within groups of free-ranging coastal cetaceans

1. The development and calibration of a land-based technique to measure int er-animal spacing in free-ranging coastal cetaceans is described here. The technique was developed to study the behaviour of killer whales Orcinus orc a in Norway. 2. A theodolite was used to measure the surfacing location of one reference individual while simultaneous video recordings of the whole group were mad e. Digitized video frames were then used to estimate the locations of all i ndividuals in the video frame relative to the reference animal. 3. The technique was calibrated using a line of towed buoys with known sepa rations. Estimated inter-buoy distances were compared with actual values to calculate errors. There was no observable bias in measurements, with a mea n error of -0.014 m (n = 304, SD = 0.880). At ranges up to 2 km from the ob servation site, 95% of measurements were accurate to within 1.7 m. 4. The accuracy of the measurement system was characterized with a set of M onte Carlo simulations. Simulations were run at offshore ranges from 100 m to 2000 m, with random perturbations applied to all variables. Errors in in ter-animal distances for n = 16 whales were estimated using 10 000 simulati on runs for every range value. The results from the simulations agreed with experimental findings. The results showed no bias in inter-animal distance measurements, with an overall mean error of 0.0864 m. 5. The results indicate that this technique is suitable for studies on a va riety of coastal cetacean populations. It provides a new tool for quantitat ive studies on spatial behaviour of cetaceans, and will help underpin manag ement efforts to monitor effects of anthropogenic disturbance. With modific ation, the technique might also be applicable to other coastal vertebrates where inter-organism distances are required.