Home : Features : Save the Manatee Trust Fund and License Plate : Research Activities

Behavioral Ecology

Research on manatee use of Florida’s coastal habitats is essential to understanding the resources required to recover and sustain a healthy population.

---

Research on manatee use of Florida’s coastal habitats is essential to understanding the resources required to recover and sustain a healthy population.  By tracking the movements of individual manatees in fresh, brackish, and saltwater habitats, FWC biologists obtain valuable information about manatee seasonal and daily movement patterns, migratory behavior, site fidelity, diving behavior, and habitat requirements.  To track manatees, researchers place a padded belt around a manatee’s tail and tether a floating radio-tag containing a satellite-linked Global Positioning System (GPS) transmitter to the belt.  The satellite-derived locations provide a detailed record of manatee movements over long periods.  In the field, biologists locate these study animals by homing in on the tag’s unique radio and ultrasonic signals in order to obtain data on behavior, group size, habitat, and movements.  Processed data are mapped in a Geographic Information System (GIS); these data are made available to managers for use in developing regulatory rules, evaluating permits, and devising strategies for manatee conservation and recovery.

This year, the behavioral ecology program launched a new research initiative to study manatee interactions with motorized watercraft in collaboration with marine mammal bio-acousticians at Florida State University (FSU) and marine engineers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).  A thorough understanding of the behavioral and sensory mechanisms underlying manatee-boat collisions is necessary in order to devise effective avoidance approaches, whether they are technological or regulatory.  The study is proceeding in two phases:  a tag research and development component (year 1); and a field/analytical component (years 2-3).  Work in 2006-2007 focused on research, development, and pilot testing of a state-of-the-art digital acoustic recording tag (“dTag”) designed to record manatee response to vessels.  In addition to the Trust Fund, this project was funded by the FWC Office of Boating and Waterways and a Florida Manatee Avoidance Technology grant to FSU.

To view highlights from the 2006–2007 fiscal year, download
Behavioral Ecology 2006–2007 Highlights (PDF File—400 KB)

---

To download Adobe Reader visit http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html