Evidence for distinct coastal and offshore communities of bottlenose dolphins in the North East Atlantic

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dc.contributor.authorOudejans, Machiel G.
dc.contributor.authorVisser, Fleur
dc.contributor.authorEnglund, Anneli
dc.contributor.authorRogan, Emer
dc.contributor.authorIngram, Simon N.
dc.contributor.funderScience Foundation Ireland
dc.contributor.funderNational Parks and Wildlife Service, Ireland
dc.contributor.funderHeritage Council, Ireland
dc.contributor.funderMayo County Council, Ireland
dc.contributor.funderKelp Marine Research, the Netherlands
dc.contributor.funderDúlra Research, the Netherlands
dc.date.accessioned2016-02-17T10:07:58Z
dc.date.available2016-02-17T10:07:58Z
dc.date.issued2015
dc.description.abstractBottlenose dolphin stock structure in the northeast Atlantic remains poorly understood. However, fine scale photo-id data have shown that populations can comprise multiple overlapping social communities. These social communities form structural elements of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncates) populations, reflecting specific ecological and behavioural adaptations to local habitats. We investigated the social structure of bottlenose dolphins in the waters of northwest Ireland and present evidence for distinct inshore and offshore social communities. Individuals of the inshore community had a coastal distribution restricted to waters within 3 km from shore. These animals exhibited a cohesive, fission-fusion social organisation, with repeated resightings within the research area, within a larger coastal home range. The offshore community comprised one or more distinct groups, found significantly further offshore (>4 km) than the inshore animals. In addition, dorsal fin scarring patterns differed significantly between inshore and offshore communities with individuals of the offshore community having more distinctly marked dorsal fins. Specifically, almost half of the individuals in the offshore community (48%) had characteristic stereotyped damage to the tip of the dorsal fin, rarely recorded in the inshore community (7%). We propose that this characteristic is likely due to interactions with pelagic fisheries. Social segregation and scarring differences found here indicate that the distinct communities are likely to be spatially and behaviourally segregated. Together with recent genetic evidence of distinct offshore and coastal population structures, this provides evidence for bottlenose dolphin inshore/offshore community differentiation in the northeast Atlantic. We recommend that social communities should be considered as fundamental units for the management and conservation of bottlenose dolphins and their habitat specialisations.en
dc.description.sponsorshipMayo County Council, Ireland (Fiontar Bellacorick Fund)en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleide0122668
dc.identifier.citationOudejans MG, Visser F, Englund A, Rogan E, Ingram SN (2015) Evidence for Distinct Coastal and Offshore Communities of Bottlenose Dolphins in the North East Atlantic. PLoS ONE 10(4): e0122668. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0122668
dc.identifier.doi10.1371/journal.pone.0122668
dc.identifier.issn1932-6203
dc.identifier.issued4en
dc.identifier.journaltitlePLOS ONEen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/2312
dc.identifier.volume10en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherPublic Library of Scienceen
dc.rights© 2015 Oudejans et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are crediteden
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectTursiops truncatusen
dc.subjectPopulation structureen
dc.subjectGenetic differentiationen
dc.subjectSocial structureen
dc.subjectBayen
dc.subjectFloridaen
dc.subjectCaliforniaen
dc.subjectAustraliaen
dc.subjectEcologyen
dc.subjectWatersen
dc.titleEvidence for distinct coastal and offshore communities of bottlenose dolphins in the North East Atlanticen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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