Compensating for geographic variation in detection probability with water depth improves abundance estimates of coastal marine megafauna.

ABSTRACT: The probability of an aquatic animal being available for detection is typically <1. Accounting for covariates that reduce the probability of detection is important for obtaining robust estimates of the population abundance and determining its status and trends. The dugong (Dugong dugon) is a bottom-feeding marine mammal and a seagrass community specialist. We hypothesized that the probability of a dugong being available for detection is dependent on water depth and that dugongs spend more time underwater in deep-water seagrass habitats than in shallow-water seagrass habitats. We tested this hypothesis by quantifying the depth use of 28 wild dugongs fitted with GPS satellite transmitters and time-depth recorders (TDRs) at three sites with distinct seagrass depth distributions: 1) open water

SUBMITTER: Hagihara R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5784948 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature