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- Title
Distribution and Habitat Characteristics of the Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin (Sousa chinensis) in the Northern Beibu Gulf, China.
- Authors
Haiping Wu; Jefferson, Thomas A.; Chongwei Peng; Yongyan Liao; Hu Huang; Mingli Lin; Zhaolong Cheng; Mingming Liu; Jingxu Zhang; Songhai Li; Ding Wang; Youhou Xu; Shiang-Lin Huang
- Abstract
Studies on the distribution and habitat characteristics of the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa chinensis) indicate a general preference toward estuarine environments. However, quantitative connections between this preference and estuarine characteristics are seldom investigated. Distribution of the humpback dolphin in the northern Beibu Gulf, China, was evaluated through systematically designed surveys and was compared to oceanographic characteristics from on-board measured and remotely sensed variables. The humpback dolphins' core distribution zone, measured by the 50% kernel density estimate (50% KDE), was confined to the Dafengjiang River Estuary in a 50.23 km² area, with a steep-edged underwater sand bar below and locally high chlorophyll-a concentration. The surface salinity distribution showed an eco-cline environment in which riverine runoff mixes with sea water in the 50% KDE. We found significant relationships between distribution probability and two oceanographic variables: (1) water depth and (2) chlorophyll-a concentration. This associates the distribution preference of humpback dolphins with regional productivity and biodiversity peaks that may facilitate prey aggregation. As humpback dolphins inhabit comparable environments in other locations throughout their range, the oceanographic features of the 50% KDE may help to provide proxies to identify other key habitats over a broader spatial scale.
- Subjects
CHINESE white dolphin; MAMMAL habitations; ESTUARINE ecology; MARINE mammal behavior; ZOOGEOGRAPHY; OCEANOGRAPHY
- Publication
Aquatic Mammals, 2017, Vol 43, Issue 2, p219
- ISSN
0167-5427
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1578/AM.43.2.2017.219