Using ecotourism boats for estimating the abundance of a bottlenose dolphin population in south-eastern Australia.

ABSTRACT: It is challenging to collect robust, long-term datasets to properly monitor the viability and social structure of large, long-lived animals, especially marine mammals. The present study used a unique long-term dataset to investigate the population parameters and social structure of a poorly studied population of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) in southern Port Phillip Bay, south-eastern Australia. Photo-identification images have been collected between 2012-2022 both opportunistically and following a protocol by patrons, staff, and volunteers of ecotourism companies using their vessels as platforms. The resulting large dataset was available to be processed through the online platform Flukebook and used in capture recapture models to estimate abundance and demographic parameters. In addi

SUBMITTER: Lacetera P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10403133 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature