Kimberley dolphins vulnerable to human activity, Murdoch University researchers say - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):
"Dolphins in Western Australia's Kimberley are heavily reliant on their specific habitats and "quite vulnerable" to human activity, researchers have said.
Key points:
The researchers published the findings of a four-year study which provides the first estimates of the abundance of three shallow, inshore species of dolphin — the Australian snubfin, the Australian humpback and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin.
The Murdoch University team travelled to five remote locations in the Kimberley to collect data, counting dolphins and mapping the sightings.
They focused mostly on the West Kimberley, visiting Roebuck Bay, Beagle Bay, Cygnet Bay and Cone Bay, but also took in the Inner Cambridge Gulf in the region's east.
"The motivation for this research was that these animals, from what we know elsewhere in Australia, tend to occur in quite small populations that really depend on the near-shore environment," lead researcher Alexander Brown said."
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"Dolphins in Western Australia's Kimberley are heavily reliant on their specific habitats and "quite vulnerable" to human activity, researchers have said.
Key points:
- Study provides estimates of three inshore dolphin species
- Data is collected in the Kimberley
- Researches find high degree of population variance between sites
- Dolphins vulnerable to coastal development
The researchers published the findings of a four-year study which provides the first estimates of the abundance of three shallow, inshore species of dolphin — the Australian snubfin, the Australian humpback and the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin.
The Murdoch University team travelled to five remote locations in the Kimberley to collect data, counting dolphins and mapping the sightings.
They focused mostly on the West Kimberley, visiting Roebuck Bay, Beagle Bay, Cygnet Bay and Cone Bay, but also took in the Inner Cambridge Gulf in the region's east.
"The motivation for this research was that these animals, from what we know elsewhere in Australia, tend to occur in quite small populations that really depend on the near-shore environment," lead researcher Alexander Brown said."
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