- Title
- Largest reported groups for the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) found in Algoa Bay, South Africa: trends and potential drivers
- Creator
- Bouveroux, Thibaut N, Caputo, Michelle, Froneman, P William, Plön, Stephanie
- Date
- 2018
- Type
- text
- Type
- article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67913
- Identifier
- vital:29168
- Identifier
- https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.12471
- Description
- Publisher version
- Description
- This study investigates how group size of Indo‐Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) changes temporally, spatially, and/or with predominant behavior at two discreet sites along the Eastern Cape coastline of South Africa: Algoa Bay and the Wild Coast. The mean group size of bottlenose dolphins was large with an average of 52 animals. Significantly larger groups were observed in Algoa Bay ( = 60, range = 1–600) than off the Wild Coast ( = 32.9, range = 1–250). In Algoa Bay, the mean group size increased significantly over the study period, from an average 18 animals in 2008 to 76 animals in 2016. Additionally, the largest average and maximum group sizes ever reported both in South Africa and worldwide, were recorded in Algoa Bay (maximum group size = 600). Neither season nor behavior had a significant effect on mean group size at both sites. Similarly environmental variables such as the depth and substrate type also had no influence on group size. It remains unclear which ecological drivers, such as predation risk and food availability, are leading to the large groups observed in this area, and further research on abundance and distribution of both predators and prey is necessary.
- Format
- 21 pages, pdf
- Publisher
- Society for Marine Mammalogy
- Language
- English
- Relation
- Marine Mammal Science, Bouveroux, T. N., Caputo, M., Froneman, P. W. and Plön, S. (2018), Largest reported groups for the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) found in Algoa Bay, South Africa: Trends and potential drivers. Mar Mam Sci, 34: 645-665. doi:10.1111/mms.12471, Marine Mammal Science volume 34 number 3 645 665 2018 1748-7692
- Rights
- Society for Marine Mammalogy
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the National Library of South Africa Copyright Act (http://www.nlsa.ac.za/downloads/Copyright Act.pdf)
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Froneman, Pierre William (Prof)
RU Department of Zoology and Entomology
SDG 14. Life Below Water
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