Mortality of Inshore Marine Mammals in Eastern Australia Is Predicted by Freshwater Discharge and Air Temperature

Meager, Justin J.; Limpus, Colin J.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0094849

Cited by 56 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Time series analysis ( Figures 2 and 4) showed that turtle stranding is cyclical across years with more turtles stranding during the months coming out of winter (August to November) and fewer turtles stranding in the months when waters start to cool (April to June). Further periods of unusual extreme weather may result in outliers in these normal seasonal patterns [8][9][10]27]. These outliers warrant independent investigation as they relate to periods of increased need for resources and rehabilitation if turtle deaths are to be minimized by intervention.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in Marine Turtle Strandings along the East Queensland, Australia Coast, between 1996 and 2013

Flint

Limpus

et al. 2015

Journal of Marine Biology

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In-water monitoring of marine vertebrates is usually expensive while the use of stranding data can be used to provide a cost-effective estimation of disease and mortality. Strandings for Queensland are recorded in a web based database (StrandNet) managed by the Queensland Government’s Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP). Data recorded in StrandNet from the east coast of Queensland between 1996 and 2013 were investigated for patterns of stranding. Significant trends in Queensland over this time were (i) an increase in the number of animals reported stranded within this study site; (ii) a species (loggerhead and green marine turtles) prevalence; (iii) a seasonal effect on different age classes stranding with most overall strandings occurring between August and November; and (iv) stranding hotspots (Moreton Bay, Hervey Bay, Rockhampton region, and Cleveland Bays) persisting throughout the study timeframe. This study suggested that intervention strategies, such as rehabilitation, should be able to be focussed on periods of heightened importance and specific localities to minimize health risks and contribute to sustainable use of resources.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in Marine Turtle Strandings along the East Queensland, Australia Coast, between 1996 and 2013

Flint

Limpus

et al. 2015

Journal of Marine Biology

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“…Stranded cetaceans are recorded in the StrandNet database for the state of Queensland (Meager and Limpus, 2014). For the purposes of the current study, we use the term 'strandings' for cetaceans that were reported to be in ill health, injured, incapacitated or dead, whether beach cast or observed at sea.…”

Section: The Queensland Marine Wildlife Strandings and Mortality Progmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the relationship between strandings records and population trends in live assemblages can be confounded by a range of factors such as unusual stranding events (e.g. epizootics or mass strandings), environmental variation (Meager and Limpus, 2014), carcass drift (Peltier et al, 2012) or reporting effort. It is also arguable whether strandings records represent the demographics of living communities, because the risks of mortality or morbidity characteristically vary with ontogeny (Perrin et al, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bycatch and strandings programs as ecological indicators for data-limited cetaceans

Meager

Sumpton

2016

Ecological Indicators

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a b s t r a c tAn integrated approach of using strandings and bycatch data may provide an indicator of long-term trends for data-limited cetaceans. Strandings programs can give a faithful representation of the species composition of cetacean assemblages, while standardised bycatch rates can provide a measure of relative abundance. Comparing the two datasets may also facilitate managing impacts by understanding which species, sex or sizes are the most vulnerable to interactions with fisheries gear. Here we apply this approach to two long-term datasets in East Australia, bycatch in the Queensland Shark Control Program (QSCP, 1992(QSCP, -2012 and strandings in the Queensland Marine Wildlife Strandings and Mortality Program (StrandNet, 1996(StrandNet, -2012. Short-beaked common dolphins, Delphinus delphis, were markedly more frequent in bycatch than in the strandings dataset, suggesting that they are more prone to being incidentally caught than other cetacean species in the region. The reverse was true for humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops spp.; and species predominantly found in offshore waters. QSCP bycatch was strongly skewed towards females for short-beaked common dolphins, and towards smaller sizes for Australian humpback dolphins, Sousa sahulensis. Overall, both datasets demonstrated similar seasonality and a similar long-term increase from 1996 until 2008. Analysis on a species-byspecies basis was then used to explore potential explanations for long-term trends, which ranged from a recovering stock (humpback whales) to a shift in habitat use (short-beaked common dolphins).Crown

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“…They also stated that elevated rates of turtle mortalities have occurred following similar weather events in the past (Meager and Limpus, 2012a). Meager and Limpus (2014), found links between periods of elevated freshwater discharge, low air temperatures and increased dugong mortality. They found that 9 months after elevated freshwater discharge there was an increase in dugong mortality.…”

Section: Extreme Weather and Marine Turtlesmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…It is known that within a year (short-term) of these types of catastrophes, marine megafauna show an increase in the number of stranding, mortalities and exacerbated by poor-health conditions (Meager and Limpus, 2014). However, the long-term (one or more years) and cumulative effect of all of these events on marine turtles is unknown.…”

Section: Chapter 1 Review Of Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

The effectiveness of rehabilitation post catastrophic environmental events as a conservation strategy for marine turtles

Flint¹

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School of Veterinary Science 2In-water monitoring of the health and well-being of marine vertebrates is usually expensive and therefore may not be undertaken by management agencies with financial constraints.However, the use of stranding data can provide a cost-effective alternative estimation of disease and mortality. Strandings for marine turtles in Queensland are recorded in a web based database (StrandNet) managed by the Queensland Government's Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP). Data recorded in StrandNet for marine turtles stranded from the entire east coast of Queensland between 1996 and 2013 were investigated for patterns of stranding in an attempt to identify which factors, such as extreme weather events, may cause stranding of marine turtle species and, further, use these patterns to predict stranding and the required responses to mitigate the negative impact mass mortalities have on endangered species such as marine turtles.Significant stranding trends in Queensland between 1996-2013 were: (i) an increase in the number of animals reported stranded within the study site; (ii) a species (loggerhead and green marine turtles) prevalence for stranding; (iii) a seasonal effect on different age classes stranding with most overall strandings occurring between August and November; and (iv) stranding hotspots (Moreton Bay, Hervey Bay, Rockhampton region and Cleveland Bay) persisting throughout the study timeframe.One strategy to mitigate the negative effects of marine turtle stranding is to provide medical care to those that strand alive in the hopes they can return to the functional population. Rehabilitation of marine turtles in Queensland is multifaceted. It treats individual animals, serves to educate the public, and contributes to conservation. Of 13854 marine turtles reported as stranded during the 18-year period of investigation, 5022 of these turtles stranded alive with the remainder verified as dead or of unknown condition. A total of 2970 (59%) of these live strandings were transported to a rehabilitation facility.The original cause of stranding has an impact on the success of rehabilitation and this may influence where treatment efforts are directed. For example, of the turtles admitted to rehabilitation exhibiting signs of disease (natural cause of illness) (18% of all animals admitted to rehabilitation), 88% of them died either unassisted or by euthanasia. Sixty-six percent of turtles admitted for unknown causes of stranding died either unassisted or by 3 euthanasia. By contrast, all turtles recorded as having a buoyancy disorder with no other presenting problem or disorder recorded, were released alive.One hundred and one of the turtles released from rehabilitation were reencountered: 77 reported as restrandings (20 dead, 13 alive subsequently died, 11 alive subsequently euthanized, 33 alive) and 24 recaptured during normal marine turtle population monitoring or fishing activities. Considering the high mortality rate and low successful recapture rate, rehabilitation may not be...

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Mortality of Inshore Marine Mammals in Eastern Australia Is Predicted by Freshwater Discharge and Air Temperature

Cited by 56 publications

References 49 publications

Trends in Marine Turtle Strandings along the East Queensland, Australia Coast, between 1996 and 2013

Trends in Marine Turtle Strandings along the East Queensland, Australia Coast, between 1996 and 2013

Bycatch and strandings programs as ecological indicators for data-limited cetaceans

The effectiveness of rehabilitation post catastrophic environmental events as a conservation strategy for marine turtles

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