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Coastal habitat change and marine megafauna behavior: Florida manatees encountering reduced food provisions in a prominent winter refuge
Citation:
Littles, C., R. Bonde, S. Butler, C. Jacoby, S. Notestein, J. Reid, D. Slone, AND T. Frazer. Coastal habitat change and marine megafauna behavior: Florida manatees encountering reduced food provisions in a prominent winter refuge. Endangered Species Research. Inter-Research, Luhe, Germany, 38:29-43, (2019). https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00933
Impact/Purpose:
Manatees are charismatic marine mammals of special conservation concern throughout their range. They are an iconic species on the Florida coast and manatee viewing and related activities contribute to tourism and recreational ecosystem good and services (EGS) that support one of the largest economic sectors on the Florida coast. Unfortunately, numerous changes in springs water quality and habitat availability may pose a special risk to wintering Florida manatees attempting to balance concurrent needs for warmth and forage. This research tracked several manatees in a prominent spring refuge over consecutive winters to detect potential changes in behavior and habitat-use, given steady declines in freshwater vegetation over that same period. Results indicate manatees may supplement foraging needs consuming marine seagrasses, but at what cost. Results of this research may be useful for developing long and short-term management strategies for this charismatic species.
Description:
A decline in submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) within Florida’s spring-fed thermal refuges raises questions about how these systems support winter foraging of Florida manatees Trichechus manatus latirostris. We analyzed telemetry data for 12 manatees over 7 yr to assess their use of Kings Bay, a winter refuge with diminished SAV. After accounting for the effect of water temperature, we hypothesized that the number of trips out of Kings Bay would increase and the time wintering manatees spent in Kings Bay would decrease. Trips out of and into Kings Bay were also compared to assess potential influences on exiting or entering. There were no detectable differences in the number of trips out of the bay or overall time manatees spent in Kings Bay across winters. The percentage of time water temperatures were below 20°C was the single best predictor of increased time spent in Kings Bay. Trips out of Kings Bay were more likely than trips into the bay to occur after 12:00 h and during a high but ebbing tide. Nine manatees tracked for longer than 75 d in winter spent 7 to 57% of their time in the Gulf of Mexico, and 3 of these manatees spent 7 to 65% of the winter >80 km from the mouth of Kings Bay. Results suggest the low amount of SAV in Kings Bay does not obviate its use by manatees, though there are likely tradeoffs for manatees regularly foraging elsewhere. Accounting for movements of Florida manatees through a network of habitats may improve management strategies and facilitate desirable conservation outcomes.
URLs/Downloads:
DOI: Coastal habitat change and marine megafauna behavior: Florida manatees encountering reduced food provisions in a prominent winter refuge