Spatial distribution for strandings of common bottlenose dolphin, striped dolphin, harbor porpoise, pilot whale and common dolphin, on the entire French coast between 1971 and 2009.

Distribution of opportunistic observations of Bottlenose Dolphins, Striped Dolphin, harbor porpoise, pilot whale and common dolphin, on all fronts of France between 1971 and 2009.

The statistical analysis used (Principal Component Analysis followed by a classification method) to identify groups common to all months and describe the evolution of these groups during the year. The data used allows for monthly tables showing the selected parameters, calculated over the entire geographic area with a resolution of 0.1 °. This method identifies 10 hydrological landscapes present at various times of the year, and characterized by homogeneous hydrological conditions.