Florida Manatee Movements and Habitat Use in the Northern ... · Florida Manatee Movements and...
Transcript of Florida Manatee Movements and Habitat Use in the Northern ... · Florida Manatee Movements and...
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Florida Manatee Movements and Habitat
Use in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
Daniel H. Slone ([email protected]), James P. Reid,
Susan M. Butler , Robert K. Bonde, Cathy A. Beck
U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center,
Gainesville, FL, USA
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• Collect existing habitat base layers
• Describe manatee use habitat based on manatee locations and observations.
Habitat Assessment
• Examine manatees for health status.
• Collect and process genetic samples from Crystal River migrants and manatees captured in northern Gulf.
Health /Genetics
• Photo-identification of manatees that overwinter at Crystal River and Wakulla.
• Matching of animals photographed in the NGOM
Photo-Identification / Population monitoring
USGS Sirenia Project research in the Northern
Gulf of Mexico
• Analyze existing spatial manatee data
• Capture and tag additional manatees in Crystal River and the northern Gulf
Manatee Tracking
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All Sighting Reports
Manatees have historically been seen
across much of the Gulf of Mexico, outside
of the more common Florida peninsula.
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Including sighting reports from areas used
extensively by the energy industry
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Including offshore oil platforms
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Manatee Captures and Health Assessments
In 2006, the USGS began catching wild
manatees in Crystal River National
Wildlife Refuge for health assessment
and tracking.
Crystal River NWR
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Manatee Captures and Health Assessments
With Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, UF, and others
cooperators
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Photographic Documentation of a Manatee
Manatees are identified by their unique scar patterns,
caused mostly by watercraft collisions. We targeted
individuals that were known from locations in the
northern GOM for assessment and tagging.
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Manatee Captures and Health Assessments
Starting in 2015, locations in the
northern Gulf were also targeted for
this project.
Crystal River NWR
Wakulla River
Lake Wimico
Choctawhatchee Bay
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Manatee Captures and Health Assessments
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Manatees were processed and samples collected. All were within
generally healthy ranges for the monitored parameters and stressors.
Manatee Captures and Health Assessments
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Radio Tagging: during capture or free-tagging
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Radio Tagging: during capture or free-tagging
GPS location every 15 min.
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GPS locations downloaded from tag
QA/QC to remove invalid locations
All animal data combined
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2006-2013: tagged manatees were those that
opportunistically travelled north, including Wakulla Spring
2013-2017: Individuals known to travel to NGOM targeted
Total number of data points ~700,000
Dates Manatees
Tracked
Tracking
bouts
“manatee years”
tracked
2006-2013 20 69 19.9
2013-2017 24 87 22.5
2006-2017 43 181 42.4
Manatee tracking effort in NGOM
GPS data
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Travel Corridors
Making sense of manatee movements
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Seasonal movement patterns
Manatees in winter remain close to warm water refuges. In the
northwest these include Crystal River and Wakulla Spring
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Seasonal movement patterns
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In early springtime some manatees begin to move away
from winter refuges at Crystal River and Wakulla Spring
Seasonal movement patterns
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Seasonal movement patterns
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As the weather and waters warm, some manatees continue to
travel west, exploiting habitat throughout the northeastern Gulf.
Seasonal movement patterns
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Seasonal movement patterns
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Seasonal movement patterns
Winter refuges are used
throughout the year
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Those manatees begin their return from summer
habitat to their winter refuges in the fall
Seasonal movement patterns
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Seasonal movement patterns
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Seasonal movement patterns
Manatees returning late in
the year often move long
distances without stopping
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Seasonal movement patterns
By December, most manatees have returned
again close to their winter refuges
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Kernel density analysis
shows local habitat use and
travel corridors.
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Wakulla River
Carrabelle River
Ochlockonee/
Sopchoppy rivers
Apalachicola River
Lake Wimico
St. Marks River
Aucilla
River
St. George Island
Highest habitat use
was seen in estuaries
and deltas
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Seagrass/SAV studies
USGS/Sirenia
Characterization of
SAV in foraging areas
Assessment of
manatee feeding
strategies
Species composition
Abundance
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Seagrass/SAV studies
USGS/Sirenia
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Seagrass/SAV studies
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Seagrass/SAV studies
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Leveraging information from this project
2015: Report to Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge –
manatee movements and relative abundance in
springs
2016: PhD dissertation chapter – manatee movements
from Kings Bay to offshore seagrass over time
2017: Data to inform manatee presence in northwest FL
for Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI)
2017: Analysis of manatee use of springs in CRNWR to
inform management plan.