Acoustic behaviour, ecology and social structure of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus, Montagu 1821) in the North Atlantic

Communication is important for social and other behavioural interactions in most marine mammal species. The bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus, Montagu, 1821) is a highly social species that use whistles as communication calls to express identity and to initiate and maintain contact between socially interactive individuals. In this thesis, the degree of variability in whistle behaviour and whistle characteristics was examined between different habitats on a range of spatial scales. The whistle characteristics that best discriminated between different communities were investigated, along with exploration of whistle variation in relation to habitat type, levels of social interaction and relatedness. Finally, the use and variability of individually distinctive calls (signature whistles) within and between Irish and US waters were also examined. Relatively high levels of whistle variation were found within a genetically and socially isolated population of dolphins in the Shannon Estuary, reflecting the need for individual identification and distinctive whistles in a population with long term site fidelity and high levels of social cohesion. Variation between reproductively separate communities in Irish waters was relatively small except between animals in inshore compared with continental shelf waters. The greatest differences in whistle structure overall were evident between dolphins using inshore and offshore US waters, likely reflecting social isolation of the two distinct ecotypes that occur in these waters but also variation in behaviour or habitat conditions. Variation found among inshore communities in US waters reflected similarities in habitat use and levels of social interaction. These findings suggest that vocal variation is socially mediated, behaviourally maintained and dependent on levels of social contact between individuals. The findings contribute to our understanding of the interaction of factors influencing vocalisation behaviour in this behaviourally complex and ecologically plastic species

Evidence for distinct coastal and offshore communities of bottlenose dolphins in the north east Atlantic.

Bottlenose dolphin stock structure in the northeast Atlantic remains poorly understood. However, fine scale photo-id data have shown that populations can comprise multiple overlapping social communities. These social communities form structural elements of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) [corrected] populations, reflecting specific ecological and behavioural adaptations to local habitats. We investigated the social structure of bottlenose dolphins in the waters of northwest Ireland and present evidence for distinct inshore and offshore social communities. Individuals of the inshore community had a coastal distribution restricted to waters within 3 km from shore. These animals exhibited a cohesive, fission-fusion social organisation, with repeated resightings within the research area, within a larger coastal home range. The offshore community comprised one or more distinct groups, found significantly further offshore (>4 km) than the inshore animals. In addition, dorsal fin scarring patterns differed significantly between inshore and offshore communities with individuals of the offshore community having more distinctly marked dorsal fins. Specifically, almost half of the individuals in the offshore community (48%) had characteristic stereotyped damage to the tip of the dorsal fin, rarely recorded in the inshore community (7%). We propose that this characteristic is likely due to interactions with pelagic fisheries. Social segregation and scarring differences found here indicate that the distinct communities are likely to be spatially and behaviourally segregated. Together with recent genetic evidence of distinct offshore and coastal population structures, this provides evidence for bottlenose dolphin inshore/offshore community differentiation in the northeast Atlantic. We recommend that social communities should be considered as fundamental units for the management and conservation of bottlenose dolphins and their habitat specialisations

Patienters upplevelse av fysisk aktivitet i samband med depression

Människor i dagens samhälle utsätts för en mängd olika stressorer vilket kan ses som ett hot mot folkhälsan. Psykisk ohälsa i världen ökar och depression är idag en av våra vanligaste folksjukdomar med över 300 miljoner människor drabbade världen över. Bara i Sverige stod antidepressiva läkemedel för en total kostnad på cirka 607 miljoner kronor under 2017. Det finns omfattande forskning kring hälsovinsterna av fysisk aktivitet vid en rad olika sjukdomstillstånd och studierna kring fysisk aktivitet som behandlingsform är många. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att undersöka människors upplevelse av fysisk aktivitet i samband med depression. Metod: Studien grundar sig på analysen av kvalitativ forskning utifrån Fribergs analysmodell. Tio kvalitativa artiklar har analyserats för att finna patienters upplevelser. Resultat: Huvudfyndet i studien var att majoriteten av deltagarnas upplevelser av fysisk aktivitet i samband med depression kunde kopplas till en känsla av sammanhang, KASAM. Resultatet presenteras i fyra huvudkategorier och nio underkategorier där huvudkategorierna är ”Begriplighet”, ”Hanterbarhet”, ”Meningsfullhet” och ”Barriärer”. Resultatet belyser bland annat vikten av att ta tillbaka kontrollen över livet, vikten av kunskap, att ta sig vidare samt hur detta kan tillämpas i vårdandet. Diskussion: Studien förstärker betydelsen av fysisk aktivitet som behandlingsform i både preventivt och behandlande syfte. I den hälsofrämjande vården bör detta tillämpas och prioriteras i den utsträckning det är möjligt för att nå en hållbar utveckling

The number of sightings of individuals comprising network A and network B-E.

<p>The number of sightings of individuals comprising network A and network B-E.</p

Chi square pair-wise comparison of the proportion of permanently marked individuals for social networks A-E.

<p>Chi square pair-wise comparison of the proportion of permanently marked individuals for social networks A-E.</p

Survey effort and photo identification analysis.

<p>Survey effort and photo identification analysis.</p

Social network analysis: sociogram of permanently marked individuals.

<p>Five social clusters (A-E), as identified by the social network analysis of associations of permanently marked bottlenose dolphins. Each symbol represents one individual, with the size of the symbols corresponding to the number of sightings of each individual (range: 1–18 sightings per individual). Blue squares represent individuals with typical scarring to the tip of the dorsal fin. Individuals without dorsal fin tip damage are represented by red squares. Black lines represent associations between individuals. The network composition has been manually adjusted to enhance the visualization of the separate clusters.</p

Distance from shore.

<p>The distance from shore for bottlenose dolphin groups that comprised network A (left) and networks B-E (right). The boxplot displays the mean and the 1^st and 3^rd quartile of the distance from shore. Whiskers indicate one standard deviation from the mean. Note the logarithmic scale of the Y-axis.</p

Grades of severity of dorsal fin scarification.

<p>Examples of the mark severity grades of dorsal fin scarification as applied in this study. (A) Permanently marked, (B) Temporarily marked, (C) Superficially marked, (D1-3) Permanently marked with damage to the tip of the dorsal fin. Pictures represent images cropped using Irfanview software.</p