Abstract
Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) of the Bocas del Toro archipelago are targeted by the largest boat-based cetacean watching operation in Panama. Tourism is concentrated in Dolphin Bay, home to a population of resident dolphins. Previous studies have shown that tour boats elicit short-term changes in dolphin behavior and communication; however, the relationship of these responses to the local population’s biology and ecology is unclear. Studying the effects of tour boats on dolphin activity patterns and behavior can provide information about the biological significance of these responses. Here, we investigated the effects of tour boat activity on bottlenose dolphin activity patterns in Bocas del Toro, Panama over 10 weeks in 2014. Markov chain models were used to assess the effect of tour boats on dolphin behavioral transition probabilities in both control and impact scenarios. Effect of tour boat interactions was quantified by comparing transition probabilities of control and impact chains. Data were also used to construct dolphin activity budgets. Markov chain analysis revealed that in the presence of tour boats, dolphins were less likely to stay socializing and were more likely to begin traveling, and less likely to begin foraging while traveling. Additionally, activity budgets for foraging decreased and traveling increased as an effect of tour boat presence. These behavioral responses are likely to have energetic costs for individuals which may ultimately result in population-level impacts. Boat operator compliance with Panamanian whale watching regulations is urgently needed to minimize potential long-term impacts on this small, genetically distinct population and to ensure the future viability of the local tourism industry.
Highlights
Human-wildlife interactions are on the rise worldwide, generating widespread concern among conservation scientists about the effects of nonlethal human disturbance on the behavioral ecology and conservation status of affected wildlife populations (Duffus & Dearden, 1990; Christiansen et al, 2015)
In coastal regions, rising interest in the marine environment has led to an upsurge in boat-based cetacean watching tourism and assumptions about the sustainability of these activities has allowed for tourism operations to proliferate at an accelerated rate (O’Connor et al, 2009)
The results of this study provide evidence that tour boat interactions significantly affect bottlenose dolphin behavior in Dolphin Bay, Bocas del Toro, Panama
Summary
Human-wildlife interactions are on the rise worldwide, generating widespread concern among conservation scientists about the effects of nonlethal human disturbance on the behavioral ecology and conservation status of affected wildlife populations (Duffus & Dearden, 1990; Christiansen et al, 2015). Tour boat disturbance has been linked to shifts in the activity budgets of numerous cetacean species (Williams, Lusseau & Hammond, 2006; Meissner et al, 2015; Pérez-Jorge et al, 2016; Tyne et al, 2018). These studies indicate that short-term avoidance tactics used by individuals can exert a cumulative effect on animals by altering activity budgets and potentially increasing energetic costs. A 2016 meta-analysis comparing tour boat disturbance found that disruptions of activity budgets were one of the most consistent responses of cetaceans, further highlighting the use of activity budgets as a metric for evaluation of consequences of tour boat disturbance (Senigaglia et al, 2016)
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