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Identifying habitat preferences and core areas of Amazon River dolphin activity using spatial ecology analysis

Landscape Ecology volume 37, pages 2099–2119 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

Context

Identifying the habitat preferences and core areas of Inia geoffrensis activity is essential to designing effective strategies for the management and conservation of Amazon River dolphins and their habitats in the Colombian Amazonas River and Orinoco basin.

Objectives

Quantify the differential use of habitat that Amazon River dolphins exhibit and identify core areas of activity during seasons of rising waters in the Colombian Amazonas River and five major rivers in the Orinoco basin.

Methods

Based on processed satellite images from Landsat 8 (2018–2021), we classified habitat types used by I. geoffrensis as reported in the literature as follows: (1) main river, (2) confluences, (3) tributaries, (4) channels, (5) islands, (6) bays, and (7) lagoons. We combined this dataset with GPS location data obtained from 17 tagged Amazon River dolphins to quantify the proportion of habitat types used. We used kernel density estimate (KDE) analysis to identify both areas used (K95) and core areas (K50) in the habitat types for the satellite-monitored individuals.

Results

Satellite tracking of I. geoffrensis individuals reported 16,098 locations classified into seven habitat types. For the analyzed period (rising waters) main habitat types used were as follow: (1) main river (n = 9144, 57%); (2) confluences (n = 932, 6%); (3) tributaries (n = 1423, 9%); (4) channels (n = 1597, 10%); (5) islands (n = 738, 5%); (6) bays (n = 1096, 7%), and (7) lagoons (n = 1168, 7%). Home range size (K95) for the satellite-monitored I. geoffrensis individuals ranged from 6 to 116 km2 (mean = 40 ± 33); and the largest core areas (K50) or core area of activity were recorded in the main river, confluences, channels, bays, lagoons, and tributaries.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrated the importance of spatial ecology analysis of Amazon River dolphins for the definition of protected areas, quantifying the use of ecosystems within these areas, and the location of priority areas for the implementation of management plans for the species and habitats.

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Data availability

All data generated and analyzed in this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

This program is part of the strategic plan defined by the South American River Dolphin Initiative (SARDI) supported by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Brazil, Colombia, Perú, Ecuador, and Bolivia. FMG received a Postdoctoral Fellowship from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (ID project: 20389 to 2021). We acknowledge the Whitley Fund for Nature, CORMACARENA, CORPORINOQUIA, CORPOAMAZONIA, Projects Design and Development (PDD), the fishing communities, and the local and national authorities for participating in the Amazon River dolphin capture process.

Funding

This work was funded by the Fundación Omacha and the Postdoctoral Fellowship from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (ID Project: 20389 to 2021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Ecología Funcional, Departamento de Biología, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, 110231, Colombia

    Federico Mosquera-Guerra & Jairo Pérez-Torres

  2. Fundación Omacha, Bogotá, 111211, Colombia

    Federico Mosquera-Guerra, Fernando Trujillo, Nicole Franco, María Jimena Valderrama & Paula Torres-Forero

  3. Grupo de Ecología del Paisaje y Modelación de Ecosistemas-ECOLMOD, Departamento de Biología, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, 111321, Colombia

    Federico Mosquera-Guerra, Sebastian Barreto & Dolors Armenteras-Pascual

  4. Grupo de Investigación en Desarrollo y Estudio del Recurso Hídrico y el Ambiente (CIDERA), Programa de Biología, Universidad del Quindío, Armenia, 630004, QUI, Colombia

    Federico Mosquera-Guerra & Hugo Mantilla-Meluk

  5. Centro de Estudios de Alta Montaña, Universidad del Quindío, Armenia, 630004, QUI, Colombia

    Hugo Mantilla-Meluk

  6. Departamento de Biología Aplicada, Semillero de Ecología y Conservación (SEC), Facultad de Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Bogotá, 250247, Colombia

    Estefany Acosta-Lugo

  7. World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Bogotá, 1196, Colombia

    José Saulo Usma Oviedo

Authors
  1. Federico Mosquera-Guerra
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  2. Fernando Trujillo
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  3. Jairo Pérez-Torres
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  4. Hugo Mantilla-Meluk
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  5. Nicole Franco
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  6. María Jimena Valderrama
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  7. Estefany Acosta-Lugo
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  8. Paula Torres-Forero
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  9. José Saulo Usma Oviedo
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  10. Sebastian Barreto
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  11. Dolors Armenteras-Pascual
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Contributions

FMG, FT, DAP, HMM and JPT conceived the study. FMG, FT, DAP, HMM, JPT and NFL designed the methodology. FT acquired the data, and FMG, JPT, NFL, DAP, HMM, JSUO, MJV, EAL and PTF and interpreted the results. FMG wrote the first draft of the paper, and all the authors contributed to its writing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Federico Mosquera-Guerra.

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Mosquera-Guerra, F., Trujillo, F., Pérez-Torres, J. et al. Identifying habitat preferences and core areas of Amazon River dolphin activity using spatial ecology analysis. Landsc Ecol 37, 2099–2119 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-022-01470-4

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