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Individual home ranges of Tursiops truncatus and their overlap with ranges of Stenella frontalis and fishermen in Aragua, Venezuela, South Caribbean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 July 2020

Sergio E. Cobarrubia-Russo Open the ORCID record for Sergio E. Cobarrubia-Russo [Opens in a new window] ,
Guillermo R. Barreto-Esnal ,
Alimar E. Molero-Lizarraga  and
Miguel A. Mariani-Di Lena
Sergio E. Cobarrubia-Russo*
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Ecosistemas y Cambio Global, Centro de Ecología, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Apartado Postal 20632, 1020-A Caracas, Venezuela
Guillermo R. Barreto-Esnal
Affiliation:
Laboratorio de Manejo y Conservación de Fauna Silvestre, Departamento de Biología de Organismos, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Apartado 89000, 1080-A Caracas, Venezuela
Alimar E. Molero-Lizarraga
Affiliation:
Unidad de Diversidad Biológica, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), 1020-A Caracas, Venezuela
Miguel A. Mariani-Di Lena
Affiliation:
Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Aragua, Venezuela
*
Author for correspondence: Sergio Cobarrubia-Russo, E-mail: sergio.cobarrubia@gmail.com, srusso@ivic.gob.ve
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Abstract

The coast of Aragua is a home of bottlenose dolphins (BND), Atlantic spotted dolphins (ASD) and fishermen (FIS) from four towns. A photo-identification study was carried out on BND to estimate their home ranges. From 2004 to 2008, 100 field surveys were carried out along 30 km of coastline (92.12 km2). In each sighting of BND, information regarding date, time, latitude/longitude and photographs were registered (ASD and FIS were registered without photography). The data were analysed using a Geographic Information System to estimate Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) and Fixed Kernel (FK) at 95%. The home ranges of BND were estimated for seven individuals. This included three females (29–31 sightings) with estimated areas ranging from 33.90–39.90 km2 with MCP (36.79–43.31% of the study area) and from 80.47–101.31 km2 with FK (109.97–104.26%). For the remaining four dolphins (14–20 sightings) the estimated areas ranged from 9.67–22.34 km2 (MCP), the predominant depth of these home ranges varied from 51–100 m (χ2 = 24.5, df = 2, P = 4.785 × 10−6). For the pods of ASD the estimated area ranged 75.23 km2 with MCP (81.66%) and 119.86 km2 with FK (130.11%) with predominant depths of 101–200 m (χ2 = 24.5, df = 2, P = 4.785 × 10−6). The area used by FIS ranged 93.27 km2 by MCP and 228.49 km2 by FK. Finally, the overlap area of BND, ASD and FIS ranged 24.75 km2 (26.86%). We point out this locality presents important oceanographic and ecological aspects which deserve to be the subject of application of management plans for the conservation of its habitat and species.

Keywords

Atlantic spotted dolphinbottlenose dolphinCaribbean Southfisherieshome rangephoto-identificationrangeVenezuela
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 100 , Issue 5 , August 2020 , pp. 857 - 866
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2020

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