Temporal changes in habitat use by dugongs in a spatially restricted coral reef environment

Christophe Cleguer; Claire Garrigue; Mariana M. P. B. Fuentes; Mark Hamann; Claude Payri; Helene Marsh

doi:10.1071/PC23036

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Temporal changes in habitat use by dugongs in a spatially restricted coral reef environment

Christophe Cleguer

^A ^B ^C ^* , Claire Garrigue

^B ^C , Mariana M. P. B. Fuentes ^A ^D , Mark Hamann ^A , Claude Payri ^B and Helene Marsh ^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER), James Cook University, Townsville, Qld, Australia.

^B IRD UMR ENTROPIE (UNC, IRD, UR, IFREMER, CNRS), BP A5, Nouméa Cedex 98848, New Caledonia.

^C Opération Cétacés, BP 12827, Nouméa, New Caledonia.

^D Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA.

^* Correspondence to: christophe.cleguer@jcu.edu.au

Handling Editor: Rochelle Constantine

Pacific Conservation Biology 30, PC23036 https://doi.org/10.1071/PC23036

Submitted: 9 August 2023 Accepted: 8 January 2024 Published: 5 March 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context

The dynamic habitat use by dugongs (Dugong dugon) in small coral reef lagoon systems spatially limited by tides is not well understood and has hampered adaptive management.

Aims

We investigated how dugongs locally used a high conservation value coral-reef lagoon system during different seasons and tides to support local management.

Methods

We conducted local-scale aerial surveys to document the seasonal and tidal changes in the distribution and number of dugongs over seagrass and non-seagrass coral reef habitats in a small lagoon in New Caledonia. The surveys were conducted fortnightly over 18 months in different seasons and at different tides. Temperature loggers and existing local footage of dugong herding behaviour were used to study the habitat use and behaviour of the animals in the area.

Key results

More dugongs were sighted in Cap Goulvain during the cool season than during the warm season. As tides restricted access to the intertidal seagrass meadows and during the cool season, more dugongs were sighted outside the lagoon on the fore reef shelf outside the lagoon. Dugongs were resting in large aggregations during their use of this non-seagrass habitat.

Conclusions

Our study emphasises the importance of non-seagrass habitats for dugongs in spatially restricted coral reef environments as well as the importance of considering outer lagoon habitats as key dugong management areas. This study also adds evidence of behavioural thermoregulation in dugongs.

Implications

The development of dynamic management strategies is essential, especially where different habitats should be protected at different times of the year.

Keywords: aerial survey, conservation, coral reefs, dugong, ecology, habitat use, marine mammal, thermoregulation.

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