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Towards conservation of cetaceans int he Alboran Sea. PhD Thesis. European Doctorate. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. 2006.

Ana Cañadas. The general objective of this thesis was to contribute to the conservation of cetaceans in general, and bottlenose and common dolphins in particular, in the Alborán Sea. For this, two parallel paths were followed: (a) the investigation about aspects of the ecology of the species in this region, and (b) the proposal of management and conservation measures based on this scientific information.

Despite having obtained data for several species of cetaceans during the time frame of this study, the work of this thesis focuses especially, as mentioned above, on the common and bottlenose dolphin. It was decided to work in the Alborán Sea and the Gulf of Vera because this is an area of great oceanographic interest and because it was inferred from previous cruises in this area that it could be of great interest for cetology.

There is a progression in this thesis in terms of the depth and complexity of the applied methods. The main methodology used in the last chapters is spatial analysis, and in fact it became a parallel objective of this work to explore the applicability of this new method, scarcely used in the field of cetology up to now, for the study of habitat selection by cetaceans and for the promotion of their conservation.

Four concrete basic objectives can be defined for this work:

a) To investigate the distribution and habitat preference by several species of cetaceans that are using the area, and especially the common and bottlenose dolphin
b) To estimate the abundance of common and bottlenose dolphins that are using the area
c) To identify the important areas for the conservation of these species in the study area
d) To develop proposals for the conservation of these species in the region

Iva Srebreva. “Comparative study of the bottlenose dolphin populations in Croatia (Adriatic Sea) and Andalucia (Alboran Sea): habitat use, social organization and impact of the human activities”. Universidad Complutense de Madrid. 2007-2008.

Gabriela Vélez. “Mark-recapture of the Risso´s dolphin Grampus griseus in the Alboran Sea”. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. 2007-2008.

Gerardo Hernández. “SIG: Seguimiento de cetáceos”. Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. 2000-2004.

Catalina Jimeno. "Public awareness program on the importance of flagship species for the conservation of the marine environment". Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. 2000

Ainhoa Pérez Puyol. “Acoustic pollution and its effect on the cetaceans of the Alboran Sea”. Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. 1999

Caroline Hoschle. “Abundance and habitat preferences of striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) in the northern Alborán Sea, Spain”. University of Hamburgo, Germany. 2007-2008.

Cornelia Oedekoven. “Spatial Modelling of the distribution and absolute abundance of Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) in the Alborán Sea”. Master Thesis. Marine Mammal Science Master of Research. University of St Andrews, Scotland.2008.

Danielle Harris. “Analysis of fluctuations in abundance of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Alborán Sea”. Master Thesis. Environmental Biology Master of Research. University of St Andrews, Scotland.2007.

Rebecca Jewel. “Modelling the distribution and absolute abundance of long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) in the Alborán Sea”. Master Thesis. Environmental Biology Master of Research. University of St Andrews, Scotland. 2007.

Anna Sweeney. “Assessment of cetacean distribution in the Alborán Sea through the application of habitat preference modelling”. Master Thesis. Environmental Biology Master of Research. University of St Andrews, Scotland. 2006.