Abstract
The common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) is a global marine mammal species for which some populations, due to their coastal accessibility, have been monitored diligently by scientists for decades. Health assessment examinations have developed a comprehensive knowledge base of dolphin biology, population structure, and environmental or anthropogenic stressors affecting their dynamics. Bottlenose dolphin health assessments initially started as stock assessments prior to acquisition. Over the last four decades, health assessments have evolved into essential conservation management tools of free-ranging dolphin populations. Baseline data enable comparison of stressors between geographic locations and associated changes in individual and population health status. In addition, long-term monitoring provides opportunities for insights into population shifts over time, with retrospective application of novel diagnostic tests on archived samples. Expanding scientific knowledge enables effective long-term conservation management strategies by facilitating informed decision making and improving social understanding of the anthropogenic effects. The ability to use bottlenose dolphins as a model for studying marine mammal health has been pivotal in our understanding of anthropogenic effects on multiple marine mammal species. Future studies aim to build on current knowledge to influence management decisions and species conservation. This paper reviews the historical approaches to dolphin health assessments, present day achievements, and development of future conservation goals.
Highlights
Assessment of marine mammal health is complex, both from an accessibility standpoint and from the diverse array of factors influencing both individual and population survival
This study suggested that estuarine dolphins in this region may be highly susceptible to future morbillivirus infections as a result of elevated polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) levels and spatial overlap between coastal and estuarine dolphins that would facilitate disease transmission [50]
The advancement of common bottlenose dolphin health assessments, transitioning from initial population assessments to endangered species conservation applications has occurred over several decades, expanding knowledge of marine mammal medicine and science
Summary
Assessment of marine mammal health is complex, both from an accessibility standpoint and from the diverse array of factors influencing both individual and population survival. The studies found positive morbillivirus titers in some dolphins sampled in estuarine and coastal waters near Beaufort, NC, with no positive titers observed in dolphins sampled in estuaries near Charleston, SC [30] This provided crucial information to understanding dolphin population structure and interaction along the U.S east coast, with a mosaic of migratory, non-migratory but coastal, and FIGURE 1 | Bottlenose dolphin capture-release health assessment locations in the U.S. small estuarine stocks rather than a single large population as initially presumed. In 2003, the Health and Environmental Risk Assessment (HERA) population monitoring project was initiated for bottlenose dolphins in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida (IRL), and waters surrounding Charleston, South Carolina (CHS) [42] For both the IRL and CHS field sites, health assessments were conducted to establish baseline data and to compare morbidity temporally and across two geographic sites [34, 43]. Over the past 40 years in the U.S, there have been numerous stressors that have impacted bottlenose dolphin populations, for which dolphin capture-release projects have been integral to threat identification and quantification of impacts from a given stressor (e.g., biotoxins, disease, environmental contaminants, oil spills, etc.)
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