Dear list members
the following article has just been published:
Bearzi G., Politi E., Agazzi S., Bruno S., Costa M., Bonizzoni S. 2005.
Occurrence and present status of coastal dolphins (Delphinus delphis
and Tursiops truncatus) in the eastern Ionian Sea.
Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 15:243-257.
ABSTRACT
1. Boat surveys aimed at studying short-beaked common dolphins and
common bottlenose dolphins in eastern Ionian Sea coastal waters were
conducted between 1993 and 2003. During 835 survey days, 24771km of
total effort was distributed within an area of 480km2, resulting in 428
common dolphin and 235 bottlenose dolphin sightings.
2. Individual photo-identification was performed extensively throughout
this study, making it possible to monitor the number of animals seen in
the study area each year and their long-term residency patterns.
3. Common dolphins declined across the study period, from 2.18
encounters/100km in 1997 to 0.40 encounters/100km in 2003.
In contrast, there was a relatively stable presence of bottlenose dolphins,
some individuals showing high levels of site fidelity and others using the
area only occasionally.
4. The local decline of common dolphins and the low density of bottlenose
dolphins appeared to reflect the general status of these cetacean species in
the wider Mediterranean region, where common dolphins were classified as
endangered in the IUCN Red List in 2003.
5. Based on the available evidence, we infer that the present unfavourable
status of common dolphins in eastern Ionian Sea coastal waters is largely a
consequence of prey depletion.
PDFs (278 K) are available from:
http://www.tethys.org/giovanni_bearzi.htm
http://www.tethys.org/ (Publications)
Best regards,
Giovanni Bearzi
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Giovanni Bearzi, Ph.D.
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President, Tethys Research Institute
c/o Venice Natural History Museum
Santa Croce 1730, 30135 Venezia, Italy
http://www.tethys.org/
http://www.tethys.org/giovanni_bearzi.htm
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