Home range and movements of Amazon river dolphins Inia geoffrensis in the Amazon and Orinoco river basins
Open Access
- 29 July 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Inter-Research Science Center in Endangered Species Research
- Vol. 45, 269-282
- https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01133
Abstract
Studying the variables that describe the spatial ecology of threatened species allows us to identify and prioritize areas that are critical for species conservation. To estimate the home range and core area of the Endangered (EN) Amazon river dolphin Inia geoffrensis, 23 individuals (6 female, 17 male) were tagged during the rising water period in the Amazon and Orinoco river basins between 2017 and 2018. The satellite tracking period ranged from 24 to 336 d (mean +/- SE = 107 +/- 15.7 d), and river dolphin movements ranged from 7.5 to 298 km (58 +/- 13.4 km). Kernel density estimates were used to determine minimum home ranges at 95% (K-95 = 6.2 to 233.9 km(2); mean = 59 +/- 13.5 km(2)) and core areas at 50% (K-50 = 0.6 to 54.9 km(2); mean = 9 +/- 2.6 km(2)). Protected areas accounted for 45% of the K-50 estimated core area. We observed dolphin individuals crossing country borders between Colombia and Peru in the Amazon basin, and between Colombia and Venezuela in the Orinoco basin. Satellite tracking allowed us to determine the different uses of riverine habitat types: main rivers (channels and bays, 52% of recorded locations), confluences (32%), lagoons (9.6%), and tributaries (6.2%). Satellite monitoring allowed us to better understand the ecological preferences of the species and demonstrated the importance of maintaining aquatic landscape heterogeneity and spatial connectivity for effective river dolphin conservation.Keywords
This publication has 67 references indexed in Scilit:
- Evaluation of Potential Protective Factors Against Metabolic Syndrome in Bottlenose Dolphins: Feeding and Activity Patterns of Dolphins in Sarasota Bay, FloridaFrontiers in Endocrinology, 2013
- The Complex Linear Home Range Estimator: Representing the Home Range of River Turtles Moving in Multiple ChannelsChelonian Conservation and Biology, 2011
- First human-caused extinction of a cetacean species?Biology Letters, 2007
- Habitat use by marine tucuxis (Sotalia guianensis) (Cetacea: Delphinidae) in Guanabara Bay, south-eastern BrazilJournal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 2007
- Number, seasonal movements, and residency characteristics of river dolphins in an Amazonian floodplain lake systemCanadian Journal of Zoology, 2004
- RANGE CHARACTERISTICS OF PACIFIC COAST BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS (TURSIOPS TRUNCATUS) IN THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BIGHTMarine Mammal Science, 1999
- Occurrence Patterns, Habitat Associations, and Potential Prey of the River Dolphin, Inia geoffrensis, in the Cinaruco River, Venezuela1Biotropica, 1998
- THE USE OF PHOTOIDENTIFICATION TO STUDY THE AMAZON RIVER DOLPHIN, INIA GEOFFRENSIS, IN THE COLOMBIAN AMAZONMarine Mammal Science, 1994
- HABITAT USE PATTERNS AND RANGES OF THE BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN IN THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA, MEXICOMarine Mammal Science, 1992
- Relating Body Size to the Rate of Home Range Use in MammalsEcology, 1988