Dear MARMAM community,
My co-authors and I are very pleased to announce the publication of our
new paper in Frontiers in Marine Science.
Courtin B, Millon C, Feunteun A, Safi M, Duporge N, Bolaños-Jiménez J,
Barragán-Barrera DC, Bouveret L and de Montgolfier B (2023) Site
fidelity and population parameters of pantropical spotted dolphins in
the Eastern Caribbean through photographic identification. /Front. Mar.
Sci./ 10:939263. doi:
10.3389/fmars.2023.939263<https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14074>
Abstract
The Agoa protected marine area, located in the French West Indies,
eastern Caribbean, holds several cetacean species, of which the
pantropical spotted dolphin /Stenella attenuata/ is the most commonly
observed. This species is the focus of whale-watching activities off the
leeward coasts of Guadeloupe and Martinique, which has allowed the
development of a citizen science program to characterize individuals
through the collection of photographic data. Here, we conducted a
photo-identification study with a sample of 115,705 photos collected
between 2014 and 2019, in which 290 marked individuals (179 in
Guadeloupe and 111 in Martinique) were identified. Based on an
Agglomerative Hierarchical Classification (AHC) analysis, dolphins from
each island were separated into two residency clusters. The
Catch–Mark–Release (CMR) POPAN statistical model for open populations
estimated the pantropical spotted dolphin populations in Guadeloupe and
Martinique at 657 (95% CI: 525–821) and 336 (95% CI: 253–446)
individuals for frequent users, respectively, while occasional visitors
were estimated at 3,063 (95% CI: 2,133–4,398) and 1,443 (95% CI:
1,024–2,033), respectively. The Martinique population tended to use a
reduced coastal area and appeared to be smaller and stable, while the
Guadeloupe population showed a slight decline in abundance throughout
the study period. These results showed that the leeward coasts of
Guadeloupe and Martinique are of particular importance for pantropical
spotted dolphin populations, highlighting the need for continued
monitoring through both scientific and citizen science programs to fill
information gaps on this species in the eastern Caribbean.
If you have any questions regarding our work please contact this email:
b.montgolf...@aquasearch.fr<mailto:lvilo...@uabcs.mx>
Kind regards,
Benjamin.
--
_______________________________________________
MARMAM mailing list
MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca
https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
