27 research outputs found
Metamastophora flabellata (Sender) Setchell (Corallinaceae, Rhodophyta) a new addition to the coral reef flora, from the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean)
309-311Stray occurrence of Metamastophora flabellata is recorded, for the first time from the Andaman Sea, India. Earlier this alga was reported to be confined only to the coasts of southern Australia and Africa. The specimen is smaller than that described from Australia and Africa. The presence of this alga at Great Nicobar Island indicated its further northward distribution
Long-Term Occupancy Trends in a Data-Poor Dugong Population in the Andaman and Nicobar Archipelago
12 páginas, 5 figuras, 3 tablas, 1 apéndice.Prioritizing efforts for conserving rare and threatened species with limited past data and lacking population estimates is
predicated on robust assessments of their occupancy rates. This is particularly challenging for elusive, long-lived and wideranging
marine mammals. In this paper we estimate trends in long-term (over 50years) occupancy, persistence and
extinction of a vulnerable and data-poor dugong (Dugong dugon) population across multiple seagrass meadows in the
Andaman and Nicobar archipelago (India). For this we use hierarchical Bayesian dynamic occupancy models accounting for
false negatives (detection probability,1), persistence and extinction, to two datasets: a) fragmentary long-term occurrence
records from multiple sources (1959–2004, n = 40 locations), and b) systematic detection/non-detection data from current
surveys (2010–2012, n = 57). Dugong occupancy across the archipelago declined by 60% (from 0.45 to 0.18) over the last 20
years and present distribution was largely restricted to sheltered bays and channels with seagrass meadows dominated by
Halophila and Halodule sp. Dugongs were not found in patchy meadows with low seagrass cover. In general, seagrass
habitat availability was not limiting for dugong occupancy, suggesting that anthropogenic factors such as entanglement in
gillnets and direct hunting may have led to local extinction of dugongs from locations where extensive seagrass meadows
still thrive. Effective management of these remnant dugong populations will require a multi-pronged approach, involving 1)
protection of areas where dugongs still persist, 2) monitoring of seagrass habitats that dugongs could recolonize, 3)
reducing gillnet use in areas used by dugongs, and 4) engaging with indigenous/settler communities to reduce impacts of
hunting.This research was supported and funded by the Conservation Leadership Program (Future Conservationist Award), Ministry of Environment and Forests
(Species Recovery Program), Mohammed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, the Ravi Sankaran Inlaks Small Grants Program and Nature Conservation
Foundation (Oceans and Coasts program). TA was partially funded by the project CTM2010-22273-C02 (Plan Nacional I+D+I, Spain). The funders had no role in
study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewe