Habitat suitability maps for harbour porpoises in the North Sea–Baltic Sea transition zone from 1997 to 2022
Citation
van Beest FM, Carstensen J, Dietz R, Nabe-Nielsen J, Sveegaard S, Teilmann J; Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University; (2025) Habitat suitability maps for harbour porpoises in the North Sea–Baltic Sea transition zone from 1997 to 2022 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13968991
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Availability:
 This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Description
The dataset includes 6 layers showing modelled habitat suitability for harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) across the North Sea–Baltic Sea transition zone over a 25-year period (1997–2004; 2005-2012; 2013-2022) during winter (Nov–Apr) and summer (May–Oct). Habitat suitability was estimated using the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) algorithm, based on satellite tag data of 111 individuals and a range of dynamic and static environmental conditions as predictor variables. Habitat suitability models and maps were developed by researchers of the Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University to quantify potential spatiotemporal changes in the overlap between suitable habitats and an existing network of 62 MPAs dedicated to harbour porpoise protection. The habitat suitability rasters can inform effective design of forthcoming MPAs under the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. moreHarbour porpoise habitat suitability layers cover a seascape area of 70,145 km2. Habitat suitability layers are available for the periods: 1997–2004; 2005-2012; 2013-2022 and for both winter (Nov–Apr) and summer (May–Oct). All layers are projected using the EEA reference grid (ETRS89-LAEA Europe, EPSG:3035), have a 1x1 km spatial resolution (cell size) and a spatial extent of 4275000, 4545000, 3415000, 4105000 (xmin, xmax, ymin, ymax). Habitat suitability values (probabilities) range between 1 and 0 with values closer to 1 indicating habitat being highly suitable for harbour porpoises while values closer to 0 indicate habitat that is poorly suitable for harbour porpoises. Location data underlying the habitat suitability models were collected from 111 harbour porpoises tracked over the period 1997–2022 as part of a long-term satellite telemetry monitoring program in Denmark. Location and meta data are freely available at Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13968991). Lineage
Methods used to create this product are described in van Beest FM, Carstensen J, Dietz R, Nabe-Nielsen J, Sveegaard S, Teilmann J. 2025. Shifts in habitat suitability for harbour porpoises leads to reduced importance of marine protected areas. Biological Conservation 302:111009 Scope Themes: Biology > Mammals Keywords: ANE, Baltic · Bio-geographical regions · Biota · Data not evaluated · European · Geographical grid systems · Geoscientific Information · Habitats and biotopes · Metadata not evaluated · NetCDF (Network Common Data Form) · No limitations to public access · Oceans · Sea regions · WGS84 (EPSG:4326) · Baltic Sea · Phocoena phocoena (Linnaeus, 1758) Geographical coverage Baltic Sea [Marine Regions] Temporal coverage
1997 - 2022 Taxonomic coverage
Phocoena phocoena (Linnaeus, 1758) [WoRMS]
Parameter
Contributors
University of Aarhus; Faculty of Technical Sciences; Department of Ecoscience, more, data creator
Publication
Based on this dataset
van Beest, F.M. et al. (2025). Shifts in habitat suitability for harbour porpoises leads to reduced importance of marine protected areas. Biol. Conserv. 302: 111009. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2025.111009, more
URLs
Dataset information: Other: Dataset status: Completed
Data type: Data products
Data origin: Monitoring
Metadatarecord created: 2025-04-15
Information last updated: 2025-08-06
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