The effects of aquaculture on bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops sp.) ranging in Shark Bay, Western Australia
نویسندگان
چکیده
The increasing presence of aquaculture in coastal waters calls for a better understanding of its environmental effects. Currently little information is available on the impact of shellfish farms on cetaceans. Here we compare long-term ranging patterns of adult female bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp. in Shark Bay, Western Australia) before and during full-scale pearl oyster farming operations, to determine if they were displaced. When the exact location of the oyster farm was determined, the dolphins decreased their use of that area after the farm was in place. Tracks of adult female dolphin movement near the oyster farm were compared to tracks of dolphin movement near an ecologically similar area where no oyster farm existed. Tracks near the oyster farm were less likely to enter the oyster farm itself than tracks near an ecologically similar location. This suggests that shellfish aquaculture could have a large impact on small cetaceans. The analytical techniques discussed apply broadly to aquatic and terrestrial animals. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
منابع مشابه
Why do Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) carry conch shells (Turbinella sp.) in Shark Bay, Western Australia?
متن کامل
Non-lethal Shark Attack on a Bottlenose Dolphin (tursiops Sp.) Calf
The risk of predation by sharks is considered to have a strong influence on dolphin behavior, especially group formation and habitat use (Heithaus 2001a). Although evidence of shark attacks on dolphins abounds (in the form of shark bite scars, shark stomach contents, etc.), there have been no published reports in which researchers have directly observed a shark attack on a dolphin in the wild. ...
متن کاملCharacterizing the socially transmitted foraging tactic sponging by bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) in the western gulf of Shark Bay, Western Australia
Individual foraging tactics are widespread in animals and have ecological and evolutionary implications. Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) in Shark Bay, Western Australia, exhibit a foraging tactic involving tool use, called “sponging.” Sponging is vertically, socially transmitted through the matriline and, to date, has been described in detail in the eastern gulf of Shark Bay (ES...
متن کاملDoes tiger shark predation risk influence foraging habitat use by bottlenose dolphins at multiple spatial scales?
Prey availability and predation risk are important determinants of habitat use, but their importance may vary across spatial scales. In many marine systems, predator and prey distributions covary at large spatial scales, but do no coincide at small spatial scales. We investigated the influences of prey abundance and tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier ) predation risk on Indian Ocean bottlenose dolp...
متن کاملThe Ecological Conditions That Favor Tool Use and Innovation in Wild Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops sp.)
Dolphins are well known for their exquisite echolocation abilities, which enable them to detect and discriminate prey species and even locate buried prey. While these skills are widely used during foraging, some dolphins use tools to locate and extract prey. In the only known case of tool use in free-ranging cetaceans, a subset of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) in Shark Bay, Western Austral...
متن کامل