In:
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Acoustical Society of America (ASA), Vol. 116, No. 4_Supplement ( 2004-10-01), p. 2556-2556
Abstract:
One of the most pressing concerns associated with the endangered Florida manatee is mortality due to collisions with watercraft. Watercraft collisions are the leading identified cause of adult mortality, resulting in greater than 30% of manatee deaths each year. Reducing adult mortalities is critical to the recovery of the manatee population, as population trends are more sensitive to adult deaths than to those of other age groups. Acoustic playback experiments were conducted to assess the behavioral responses of manatees to watercraft approaches. Playback stimuli were constructed to simulate a vessel approach to approximately 10 m in seagrass habitats. Stimulus categories were (1) silent control; (2) idle outboard approach; (3) planing outboard approach; and (4) fast personal watercraft approach. These results are the first to document responses of wild manatees to playback stimuli. Analyses of swim speed, changes in behavioral state, and respiration rate indicate that the animals respond differentially to the playback categories. The most pronounced responses, relative to the controls, were elicited by the personal watercraft. Quantitative documentation of response during playbacks will provide data that may be used as the basis for future models to predict the impact of specific human activities on manatee and other marine mammal populations.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0001-4966
,
1520-8524
Language:
English
Publisher:
Acoustical Society of America (ASA)
Publication Date:
2004
detail.hit.zdb_id:
1461063-2
