Manatees in the side-rivers of Maroni Estuary in French Guiana

{999A9551-D701-4CF5-9373-131D3DD8D969}2005051219291400FALSE20060710171619002006081512091700PlatformVesselsSightingsMicrosoft Windows 2000 Version 5.0 (Build 2195) Service Pack 4; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.1.0.722enA study was carried out from June to September to assess habitat quality for manatees (Trichechus manatus manatus) in the Coswine swamps in French Guiana. The Coswine swamps are one of the largest wetlands in French Guiana and totally under the influence of the tides. The climate is typical for the tropics and has a huge impact on the water regime. In the area, three different protection zones exist. The swamps are quite untouched from humans, perhaps a reason for the high number of manatee sightings in the recent past and its suspected large population size. As the manatee is an aquatic herbivore, in a first part the submerged aquatic vegetation was investigated. At the same time, some variables important for manatee distribution were measured, which had been determined by literature survey. The whole area was divided into sections in which the vegetation and water parameters were recorded during a preliminary study. The results showed, that no submerged aquatic vegetation was present in the Coswine swamps. The aquatic parameters were similar to those obtained in other studies in French Guiana and South America if climatic circumstances are taken into account. The second part of the study deals with the bank vegetation, as it is supposed, that this is the only available food resource for manatees in the area. The methodological approach was slightly altered for the assessment of the water quality, considering the recommendations made after the first study. The vegetation was sampled in 100 m long transects at the banks with a distance of 1,500 m between each in the whole study area. During the study rarely any manatee was spotted, but this more likely was due to the methods applied than an indicator for the non-presence of sirenians. The aquatic parameters varied slightly more than in the first part of the study. Salinity unexpectedly was low and more than ¾ of all samples were taken in fresh water. The vegetation sampling showed an overwhelming importance of Red Mangrove (Rhizophora racemosa) in the whole study area. In contrast to the first impression on the site, the swamps are quite homogenous when regarding only the aquatic parameters. It is therefore difficult to distinguish any zones of changing environmental aspects. Regarding the vegetation, the Coswine swamps are also homogenous but to a lesser degree as the plants are more influenced by the soil on which they thrive than by the water quality. For manatees, the Coswine swamps seems to provide a suitable habitat with plenty of food in the form of overhanging branches and leaves of Red Mangrove, some mouko-mouko (Montrichardia arborescens) and other consumable plants. The aquatic variables are in a range which is described in literature as manatee-fitting. The quite untouched Coswine swamps provide shelter from waves, humans and pollution. Therefore, they can be judged to be important manatee areas. Corresponding steps for the conservation of this still natural area should be taken and secured by nature protection laws.The aim of the study is the analysis and the description of the important variables determining manatee habitat use in a typical estuarine environment in the Wider Caribbean Region. Precisely, the main questions of the study are: <ul> <li>What are the critical factors and in which amplitude do they occur?</li> <li>Are there any remarkable differences regarding the critical factors between distinguishable zones in the study area?</li> <li>How can the zones be classified into groups of similar character?</li> <li>Can any specific behavior of manatees be related to these areas?</li> <li>Is there a difference between already described habitats and the habitat in the Coswine swamps?</li> </ul> Therefore, the different variables were measured at stations distributed over the working area in a certain distance. At each station the critical factors of manatee habitat use which were identified during literature study are recorded. Then, in a second step, the stations will be grouped into zones of similar character by means of the vegetation and the aquatic factors. Finally the classified zones are mapped and described. With such a classification and description of an existing area used by manatees, the author aims to contribute to a better knowledge of manatee habitats as it is demanded by Marsh et al. (1986:180), because “the major threat to sirenians is alteration of their habitat.” Powell et al. (1981:645) conclude for the population in Puerto Rico, which is similar to that in French Guiana – small and wide spread- that “destruction of their habitats or human-caused mortality (…) could have a deleterious impact on their status,” because demographic factors, environmental variability and genetic variations can easily influence long-term survival (Reynolds 1999). The results of this study may be used to identify potential manatee habitats with the aid of only a few important variables. This should result in a better adaptation of conservation plans to the specific needs of manatees in a certain area. In addition, monitoring can be focused on the main factors and therefore can be less expensive and easier to handle. Moreover, effects of habitat alteration are easier to predict and adequate countermeasures can be taken. All these improvements should enable nature conservation authorities to respond more quickly to any threats of habitat alteration. In consequence, conservation measures will be easier to apply and will be more efficient. References: Marsh, H., T. O’Shea, R. Best, and C. Robin. 1986. Research on Sirenians. Ambio 15(3):177-180. Powell, J.A., D.W. Belitsky, and G.B. Rathburn. 1981. Status of the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) in Puerto Rico. Journal of Mammalogy 62(3):642-646. Reynolds, J.E. III. 1999. Efforts to conserve the manatees. In: J.R. Twiss, Jr. and R.R. Reeves (eds). Conservation and management of marine mammals. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, London, pp. 267-295.Spiegelberger, T2013Manatees in the side-rivers of Maroni Estuary in French Guiana - 2001https://doi.org/10.82144/59dfa779OBIS-SEAMAP684http://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/684OBIS-SEAMAPVersion 1.0.0ground condition2001-06-222001-07-11CompleteNone planned-53.950733-53.9150335.6734175.646483-53.950733-53.9150335.6464835.673417Open public unless otherwise noted. See Use Constraints for details.1. Not to use data obtained from OBIS-SEAMAP in any publication, product, or commercial application without proper attribution to the original data provider(s) and OBIS-SEAMAP unless the datasets are explicitly shown under the CC0 policy. Citations or credits are suggested as attribution. If the data you downloaded come from multiple datasets, a citation or credit to each of the datasets is required. Suggested citation for this dataset Spiegelberger, T. 2013. Manatees in the side-rivers of Maroni Estuary in French Guiana - 2001. Data downloaded from OBIS-SEAMAP (http://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/684) on yyyy-mm-dd. Suggested citation for OBIS-SEAMAP: Halpin, P.N., A.J. Read, E. Fujioka, B.D. Best, B. Donnelly, L.J. Hazen, C. Kot, K. Urian, E. LaBrecque, A. Dimatteo, J. Cleary, C. Good, L.B. Crowder, and K.D. Hyrenbach. 2009. OBIS-SEAMAP: The world data center for marine mammal, sea bird, and sea turtle distributions. Oceanography 22(2):104-115 2. To forward the citation of any publication / report that made use of the data / tools provided by OBIS-SEAMAP for inclusion in our list of references. 3. Not to hold OBIS-SEAMAP or the original data providers liable for errors in the data. While we have made every effort to ensure the quality of the database, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of these datasets. 4. The burden for determining fitness for use of the downloaded data for any analyses lies entirely with the user. OBIS-SEAMAP or the original data providers do not support outcomes of your analyses that used the data you downloaded from OBIS-SEAMAP. 5. To consider inclusion of the accompanying transect (effort) dataset if available into the methodology of your analyses. 6. Not to redistribute the data you downloaded from OBIS-SEAMAP through any media without contect from OBIS-SEAMAP and the original data providers unless the datasets are explicitly shown under the CC0 policy.ShapefileThomas SpiegelbergerCemagrefmailing and physical address

thomas.spiegelberger@cemagref.fr Spiegelberger, T.2002Analysis of habitats used by manatees (Trichechus manatus manatus) in the side-rivers of Maroni Estuary in French Guiana http://spiegelberger.free.fr/pub.html#disDiploma thesis. Department of Vegetation Ecology, TU Munich.204 pp.Thomas SpiegelbergerIntegrated Taxonomic Information SystemIntegrated Taxonomic Information Systemhttp://www.itis.usda.gov/Downloaded April, 2004Refer to the contact information of the datasetKingdomAnimalia202423PhylumChordata158852SubphylumVertebrata331030ClassMammalia179913SubclassTheria179916InfraclassEutheria179925OrderSirenia180676FamilyTrichechidae180682GenusTrichechus180683SpeciesTrichechus manatus180684SubspeciesTrichechus manatus manatus610164Halpin, P.N., A.J. Read, E. Fujioka, B.D. Best, B. Donnelly, L.J. Hazen, C. Kot, K. Urian, E. LaBrecque, A. Dimatteo, J. Cleary, C. Good, L.B. Crowder, and K.D. Hyrenbach2009OBIS-SEAMAP: The world data center for marine mammal, sea bird, and sea turtle distributionsOceanography22(2):104-115http://www.tos.org/oceanography/article/obis-seamap-the-world-data-center-for-marine-mammal-sea-bird-and-sea-turtle enFGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial MetadataFGDC-STD-001-1998local timeConnie KotDuke Universitymailing and physical address

135 Duke Marine Lab Road

BeaufortNC28516USA252-504-7640connie.kot@duke.eduhttp://www.nbii.gov/Biological Data Profilehttp://www.esri.com/metadata/esriprof80.htmlESRI Metadata Profile2011-02-09ISO 19115 Geographic Information - MetadataDIS_ESRI1.0datasetDownloadable Data0.0210.021zipzipped shapefilehttp://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/684FreeGo to the OBIS-SEAMAP web siteOBIS-SEAMAPNicholas School of Environment, Duke Universitymailing and physical address

A328, LSRC

DurhamNC27708USA919-613-8021seamap-contact@duke.eduNot to hold OBIS-SEAMAP liable for errors in the data. While we have made every effort to ensure the quality of the database, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of these datasets. Also please refer to Use Constraints. 002 Local Area Network 0.021 Shapefile Vector GCS_WGS_1984Decimal degrees0.0001670.000167D_WGS_1984WGS_19846378137.000000298.257224GCS_WGS_1984 This section explains attributes included in the original dataset. OBIS-SEAMAP restricts the attributes available to the public to date/time, lat/lon and species names/counts only. Should you need other attributes described here, you are encouraged to contact the data provider.Thomas SpiegelbergeroidUnique ID number (generated by SEAMAP)obs_dateObserved dateobis_timeObserved timelatitudeLatitude of observationlongitudeLongitude of observationsp_obsSpecies observedsp_tsnSpecies ITIS TSNobs_countObserved countnotesField notes from direct observations20060815