Hi all,
I pleased to announce the publication of the following paper in Marine
Mammal Science on the impact of floods on dolphins inhabiting estuaries
in Australia.
Christine A. Fury and Peter L. Harrison.
Impact of flood events on dolphin occupancy
patterns
Marine Mammal Science. Article first published online: 7
FEB 2011 | DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-7692.2010.00447.x
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1748-7692.2010.00447.x/abstract
Abstract:
The aim of this study was to assess
potential impacts of water quality changes
associated with floods on the occupancy of Indo-Pacific bottlenose
dolphins (Tursiops
aduncus) in two
subtropical estuaries inAustralia.Boat-based surveyswere conducted
in the Clarence River estuary (CR) and Richmond River estuaries (RR) over
3 yr.
Principal components analysis (PCA) showed that when the dolphins were
absent
from the estuaries, three water quality components were extracted in the
CR and
two components in the RR. The
PCA1
component included high
loadings for
salinity, turbidity, and pH for the CR (46%); and salinity, turbidity,
pH, and
dissolved oxygen (DO) for theRR(51%). Randomization tests showed that
dolphins
abandoned both estuaries at times of lower salinity, and during periods
of higher
turbidity and of lower levels of pH and dissolved oxygen in the RR that
were
associated with floods. The time until dolphins returned to the estuary
postflood
depended on the length and severity of the flood, but generally dolphins
were
observed in waters with salinity levels above 29. Their delayed return
postflood
could be for their physiological health, or because their prey returned
to the estuaries
under these higher salinity conditions, or more likely a combination of
both factors.
Pdf copies can be obtained from cfury10@gmail.com
Note my new email address.
Regards
Christine Fury
Christine Fury, PhD
Marine Ecologist
Mobile 0408-264-330
Webpage:
http://scu-au.academia.edu/ChristineFury/About
http://www.scu.edu.au/research/whales/index.php/30/
cfury10@gmail.com