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Identifying priority habitat for conservation and management of Australian humpback dolphins within a marine protected area

Increasing human activity along the coast has amplified the extinction risk of inshore delphinids. Informed selection and prioritisation of areas for the conservation of inshore delphinids requires a comprehensive understanding of their distribution and habitat use. In this study, we applied an ense...

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Autores principales: Hunt, Tim N., Allen, Simon J., Bejder, Lars, Parra, Guido J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7463025/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32873830
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69863-6
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author Hunt, Tim N.
Allen, Simon J.
Bejder, Lars
Parra, Guido J.
author_facet Hunt, Tim N.
Allen, Simon J.
Bejder, Lars
Parra, Guido J.
author_sort Hunt, Tim N.
collection PubMed
description Increasing human activity along the coast has amplified the extinction risk of inshore delphinids. Informed selection and prioritisation of areas for the conservation of inshore delphinids requires a comprehensive understanding of their distribution and habitat use. In this study, we applied an ensemble species distribution modelling approach, combining results of six modelling algorithms to identify areas of high probability of occurrence of the globally Vulnerable Australian humpback dolphin in northern Ningaloo Marine Park (NMP), north-western Australia. Model outputs were based on sighting data collected during systematic, boat-based surveys between 2013 and 2015, and in relation to various ecogeographic variables. Water depth and distance to coast were identified as the most important variables influencing dolphin presence, with dolphins showing a preference for shallow waters (5–15 m) less than 2 km from the coast. Areas of high probability (> 0.6) of dolphin occurrence were primarily (90%) in multiple use areas where extractive human activities are permitted, and were poorly represented in sanctuary (no-take) zones. This spatial mismatch emphasises the need to reassess for future spatial planning and marine park management plan reviews for NMP. Shallow, coastal waters identified here should be considered priority areas for the conservation of this Vulnerable species.
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spelling pubmed-74630252020-09-03 Identifying priority habitat for conservation and management of Australian humpback dolphins within a marine protected area Hunt, Tim N. Allen, Simon J. Bejder, Lars Parra, Guido J. Sci Rep Article Increasing human activity along the coast has amplified the extinction risk of inshore delphinids. Informed selection and prioritisation of areas for the conservation of inshore delphinids requires a comprehensive understanding of their distribution and habitat use. In this study, we applied an ensemble species distribution modelling approach, combining results of six modelling algorithms to identify areas of high probability of occurrence of the globally Vulnerable Australian humpback dolphin in northern Ningaloo Marine Park (NMP), north-western Australia. Model outputs were based on sighting data collected during systematic, boat-based surveys between 2013 and 2015, and in relation to various ecogeographic variables. Water depth and distance to coast were identified as the most important variables influencing dolphin presence, with dolphins showing a preference for shallow waters (5–15 m) less than 2 km from the coast. Areas of high probability (> 0.6) of dolphin occurrence were primarily (90%) in multiple use areas where extractive human activities are permitted, and were poorly represented in sanctuary (no-take) zones. This spatial mismatch emphasises the need to reassess for future spatial planning and marine park management plan reviews for NMP. Shallow, coastal waters identified here should be considered priority areas for the conservation of this Vulnerable species. Nature Publishing Group UK 2020-09-01 /pmc/articles/PMC7463025/ /pubmed/32873830 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69863-6 Text en © The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Hunt, Tim N.
Allen, Simon J.
Bejder, Lars
Parra, Guido J.
Identifying priority habitat for conservation and management of Australian humpback dolphins within a marine protected area
title Identifying priority habitat for conservation and management of Australian humpback dolphins within a marine protected area
title_full Identifying priority habitat for conservation and management of Australian humpback dolphins within a marine protected area
title_fullStr Identifying priority habitat for conservation and management of Australian humpback dolphins within a marine protected area
title_full_unstemmed Identifying priority habitat for conservation and management of Australian humpback dolphins within a marine protected area
title_short Identifying priority habitat for conservation and management of Australian humpback dolphins within a marine protected area
title_sort identifying priority habitat for conservation and management of australian humpback dolphins within a marine protected area
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7463025/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32873830
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-69863-6
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