Dear all,
I am so happy to announce our new publication entitled "Marine vessels alter the behaviour ofbottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus in the Istanbul Strait, Turkey" in Endangered Species Research.The article is open access and can be downloaded from the following links: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00836 Citation: Bas AA, Christiansen F, Öztürk B, Öztürk AA,Erdoǧan MA, Watson LJ (2017) Marine vessels alter the behaviour of bottlenosedolphins Tursiops truncatus in the Istanbul Strait, Turkey. Endang Species Res34:1-14. ABSTRACT: Thenon-lethal impacts of marine vessels on cetaceans are now a globally recognisedthreat. This study is the first to investigate the effect of marine traffic onthe behaviour of bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus in theIstanbul Strait, Turkey. The Istanbul Strait (also known as the Bosphorus) isone of the busiest international waterways in the world and is exposed to densemarine traffic. The effect of marine traffic, location and season on thebehavioural transitions was investigated through general log-linear analysis.Further, the changes on the behavioural budget and bout duration were assessedusing Markov chains. Results showed that marine vessels were the main drivingforce for the behavioural transitions. These changes in transitions betweenbehaviours led to significant changes in behavioural budget and bout durations(average time in each behavioural state). Surface-feeding, resting andsocialising behaviour significantly decreased in the control budget, whilediving showed an increase in the presence of vessels. Moreover, dolphins spentless time surface-feeding, resting, socialising and diving once disrupted.Furthermore, the current level of vessel-dolphin interaction (51%) in theIstanbul Strait was sufficiently high to alter the dolphins’ cumulativebehavioural budget significantly. Finally, speed and distance of vessels playeda considerable role in the directional responses of dolphins. These resultsraise concerns on the potential biological consequences of the observedbehavioural changes, considering that the population is already classified ‘atrisk’ and is still lacking species-specific conservation plans. The results ofthe study must be considered immediately to create protected zones in order tomitigate the vessel-dolphin interactions. KEY WORDS: Bottlenose dolphins · Marine traffic ·Disturbance · Behavioural impacts · Behavioural budgets · Bout lengths ·Cumulative behaviour · Markov chain · Conservation I hope you enjoy reading it, Best regards, Dr. Aylin Akkaya Bas Research CoordinatorDeniz Memelileri Araştırma Derneği (DMAD)Marine Mammals Research Association+90 5337739867i...@dmad.org.trwww.dmad.org.tr
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