Movements and Spatial Use Patterns of Radio-tagged West Indian Manateesud(Trichechus manatus) along the Atlantic Coast of Florida and Georgia:udA Progress Report

摘要

The West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) is a large, herbivorous aquatic mammaludthat lives in shallow estuaries, rivers and coastal areas of the New World tropics and subtropicsud(Lefebvre et at. 1989). The Florida subspecies (T. m. latirostris) occurs at the northern end ofudthe species' range. Their low metabolic rate makes them susceptible to cold stress in winter,udhence limiting their northward distribution and affecting their behavior and movements (Irvineud1983). During the warm-season, manatees can be found throughout the coastal areas andudfreshwater river systems of Florida and Georgia, but in winter most manatees aggregate aroundudwarm-water sources, either natural springs or industrial effluents, in central and southern Floridaud(Hartman 1979). This document discusses various techniques and data sets resulting from aerial surveying and telemetry tracking studies. (94 page document)