METHODS & PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Objective 1: Identify areas of high use within the Drowned Cayes.

During 8 weeks of observations, from 1 February to 7 April 1999, 71 boat surveys were conducted among the Drowned Cayes, Swallow Caye, and the Gallows Point Reef.

The area was divided into 9 "zones" for statistical analysis. Participants in the survey included the manatee researcher (author), a licensed boat operator (Armando "Patch" Mu�oz), and Oceanic Society Volunteers. During 75 hours of effort, we encountered manatees 106 times. 82% of the surveys resulted in at least one sighting for a total of 209 manatees sighted. Sighting probability varied among the survey zones (Kruskal-Wallis H = 25.299, P = 0.0014). Manatees were sighted more frequently in the northern zones (1-6) than the southern zones (7-8). Although no manatees were sighted in zone 9 (Gallows Reef) during this season, previous researchers report sightings on the reef during the summer, and the author sighted manatees on the reef daily during July and August 1999. Sites attractive to manatees included seagrass beds at the west entrance to the mangrove bogues and secluded areas within the bogues. Not surprisingly, behavioral state was significantly related to substrate type (G squared = 100.61, P = 0.001). Manatees were more likely to feed in seagrass (z = 5.93) and to rest in muddy substrate (z = 4.77). Several new manatee "resting holes" were located in the small secluded bogues.


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Copyright 1999 Caryn Self Sullivan, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-2258. The research presented in this poster was funded by The Oceanic Society of San Francisco, CA 94123 and supported by an NSF Graduate Fellowship. Permission to print and reproduce these 6 poster pages is hereby granted for non-profit educational use, only.