Comparison of Short-Term Satellite Telemetry and Long-Term Photographic-Identification for Assessing Ranging Patterns of Individual Common Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Waters Around Charleston, South Carolina, USA

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 355-361
Author(s):  
Brian C. Balmer ◽  
Stephen D. McCulloch ◽  
Todd R. Speakman ◽  
Jeffrey Foster ◽  
Larry J. Hansen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Tursiops Truncatus ◽  
Bottlenose Dolphins ◽  
Satellite Telemetry ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Ranging Patterns

scholarly journals Occurrence of Brucella ceti in stranded bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus coincides with calving season

2020 ◽  
Vol 141 ◽  
pp. 185-193
Author(s):  
WE McFee ◽  
D Wu ◽  
K Colegrove ◽  
K Terio ◽  
L Balthis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
Tursiops Truncatus ◽  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Marine Bacterium ◽  
Bottlenose Dolphins ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Terrestrial Species ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Calving Season

Brucellosis is a disease caused by the Gram-negative facultative intracellular bacterium Brucella spp. In terrestrial species, this zoonotic bacterium is a global public health risk, but there is also concern over the zoonotic potential of marine forms, such as B. ceti, which affects cetaceans. Due to the detection of B. ceti in samples from bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus during the 2010-2014 Gulf of Mexico Unusual Mortality Event, a long-term study of the prevalence of Brucella in stranded bottlenose dolphins from South Carolina, USA, was conducted. From 2012 through 2017, 282 stranded bottlenose dolphins were tested for B. ceti via real-time PCR. Nearly 32% of the dolphins tested positive in at least one sample (brain, lung, blowhole swab). Very little information exists in the literature on the occurrence of Brucella spp. in marine mammals, though in terrestrial species, such as cattle and elk, higher prevalence is often reported in spring. Similar results were found in this study with the peak occurrence being between March and June, a known period of calving in South Carolina. Results from this study provide important insights into the occurrence of the marine bacterium B. ceti.

scholarly journals Strand-feeding by coastal bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the Gulf of Guayaquil, Ecuador

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Jose Jiménez ◽  
Juan José Alava
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
South America ◽  
Tursiops Truncatus ◽  
Bottlenose Dolphins ◽  
Photo Identification ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Predatory Strategy ◽  
Gulf Of Guayaquil ◽  
Term Field

Strand-feeding as a predatory strategy was first observed in bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, inhabiting waters of Spartina marshes of South Carolina and Georgia, United States. While a substantial body of documented observations exists for many regions of the world, current evidences and photo-documentation of these types of foraging behaviors by bottlenose dolphins in the Pacific coast of South America are scarce. To the best of our knowledge, behaviors resembling strand-feeding by bottlenose dolphins have been described very briefly without supporting photos in the inner estuary of the Gulf of Guayaquil. As a part of a long-term field study (2001-2011) on photo-identification, population ecology and monitoring of the bottlenose dolphin in the El Morro Mangrove and Wildlife Refuge, we provide some insights on its conservation, and photo-documented the occurrence of strand-feeding as a recurrent behavioral foraging tactic in this region of South America.

Individual movements between local coastal populations of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in the northern and eastern Black Sea

2016 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Gladilina ◽  
Olga Shpak ◽  
Valentin Serbin ◽  
Anna Kryukova ◽  
Dmitry Glazov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Black Sea ◽  
Bottlenose Dolphin ◽  
Tursiops Truncatus ◽  
Site Fidelity ◽  
Bottlenose Dolphins ◽  
The Black Sea ◽  
Small Range ◽  
Short Term ◽  
High Population Growth ◽  
Physical Barriers

The Black Sea subspecies of the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus ponticus) is threatened and has a small range. Its population structure is little known: it possibly includes a few local coastal populations. We assessed connectivity between coastal groupings in six localities along 800 km of the coastline based on records of photo-identified animals between 2004 and 2014. Abundance of these groupings, as estimated, ranged between 76 and 174 individually distinctive dolphins. In total, there were 350 identified individuals, of which 91 (26%) were resighted within the same areas. However, only three cases of individual movements between local coastal populations were recorded at the distances between 135 and 325 km. Therefore, despite the absence of physical barriers, the coastal Black Sea population is fragmented into numerous resident or locally migrating groupings with site fidelity. These local populations are loosely connected to each other with rare movements between them. This fragmentation can be a factor contributing to short-term fluctuations in abundance of Black Sea bottlenose dolphins and their decline in some localities, despite the potentially high population growth rate.

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