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- Title
Social Structure and Abundance of Coastal Bottlenose Dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, in the Normano-Breton Gulf, English Channel.
- Authors
Louis, Marie; Gally, François; Barbraud, Christophe; Béesau, Julie; Tixier, Paul; Simon-Bouhet, Benoit; Rest, Kevin Le; Guinet, Christophe
- Abstract
A large, but poorly studied, bottlenose dolphin community, Tursiops truncatus, inhabits coastal waters of Normandy (Normano-Breton Gulf, English Channel, France). In this study, the social structure and abundance of this community were assessed using photo-identification techniques. Like other bottlenose dolphin communities worldwide, this resident community has a fission-fusion social structure with fluid associations among individuals (half-weight index = 0.10). Association patterns were highly variable as indicated by a high social differentiation ( S = 0.95 ±0.03). The majority of associations were casual, lasting days to months. However, individuals exhibited also a smaller proportion of long-term relationships. A mean group size of 26 was large compared with other resident coastal communities, and variable, ranging from 1 to 100, which could be the results of ecological conditions, in particular resource predictability and availability. Analyses also showed that the community was organized in 3 social clusters that were not completely isolated from each other. Abundance was estimated at 420 dolphins (95% confidence interval: 331-521), making this coastal community one of the largest identified along European coastlines. Because human activities in the Gulf are expected to increase in the upcoming years, long-term demographic monitoring of this dolphin community will be critical for its management.
- Subjects
ENGLISH Channel; BOTTLENOSE dolphin; TURSIOPS; BLACK Sea bottlenose dolphin; SOCIAL structure
- Publication
Journal of Mammalogy, 2015, Vol 96, Issue 3, p481
- ISSN
0022-2372
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/jmammal/gyv053