You're currently viewing an old version of this dataset. To see the current version, click here.

Acoustic and visual data of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops spp.) foraging vocalizations, boat presence and noise levels in the Moray Firth in 2012-2013

Assessments of anthropogenic impacts on marine wildlife often concentrate on large-scale displacement. However, changes in the activity patterns of animals that do not flee could also affect their energy balance. Increasing boat traffic raises concerns for exposed marine mammals. Understanding risk perception is critical for effective mitigation and management, but it is hard to disentangle the effect of noise, physical presence of boats, and context. We used passive acoustic techniques to quantify how boat disturbance affected bottlenose dolphin foraging activity, and characterized the conditions influencing responses. To account for potential masking effects of boat noise on foraging vocalizations (buzzes), we developed a novel procedure to estimate the relationship between buzz detection probability and noise levels in particular 1/3 octave bands. Bayesian hierarchical modeling was then used to assess the effect of boat presence on buzz occurrence, as well as potential interactions with noise level, location, year, day, hour, dolphin group size, and boat type and number. Our results indicate that boat presence was associated with a short-term 49% reduction in foraging activity, but there was no relationship with noise level. Differences between sites and between years suggested a variable susceptibility depending on foraging conditions. This effect increased for increasing number of boats and depended on boat type. This is the first study conclusively showing that boat physical presence, and not just noise, plays a large role in disturbance.

Data and Resources

This dataset has no data

Cite this as

Pirotta, Enrico, Merchant, Nathan D, Thompson, Paul M, Barton, Tim R, Lusseau, David (2015). Dataset: Acoustic and visual data of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops spp.) foraging vocalizations, boat presence and noise levels in the Moray Firth in 2012-2013. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.837769

DOI retrieved: 2015

Additional Info

Field Value
Imported on November 30, 2024
Last update November 30, 2024
License CC-BY-3.0
Source https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.837769
Author Pirotta, Enrico
Given Name Enrico
Family Name Pirotta
More Authors
Merchant, Nathan D
Thompson, Paul M
Barton, Tim R
Lusseau, David
Source Creation 2015
Publication Year 2015
Resource Type application/zip - filename: Pirotta_2015
Subject Areas
Name: Ecology

Related Identifiers
Title: Quantifying the effect of boat disturbance on bottlenose dolphin foraging activity
Identifier: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2014.11.003
Type: DOI
Relation: IsSupplementTo
Year: 2015
Source: Biological Conservation
Authors: Pirotta Enrico , Merchant Nathan D , Thompson Paul M , Barton Tim R , Lusseau David .