Predicting the effects of human developments on individual dolphins to understand potential long-term population consequences.

ABSTRACT: Human activities that impact wildlife do not necessarily remove individuals from populations. They may also change individual behaviour in ways that have sublethal effects. This has driven interest in developing analytical tools that predict the population consequences of short-term behavioural responses. In this study, we incorporate empirical information on the ecology of a population of bottlenose dolphins into an individual-based model that predicts how individuals' behavioural dynamics arise from their underlying motivational states, as well as their interaction with boat traffic and dredging activities. We simulate the potential effects of proposed coastal developments on this population and predict that the operational phase may affect animals' motivational states. For such results

SUBMITTER: Pirotta E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4650163 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature