Bottlenose dolphins in Slovenian and adjacent waters (north Adriatic Sea) in 2002-2008

Tilen Genov, Morigenos - marine mammal research & conservation society, Slovenia

This dataset comprises the work carried out by Morigenos in Slovenian and adjacent waters of the north Adriatic Sea, between 2002 and 2008. A local population of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Slovenian and adjacent waters was studied using boat-based surveys, land-based surveys and standard photo-identification procedures. A total of 120 sightings were recorded and 101 well-marked dolphins photo-identified. Resighting rates within and between years showed a relatively high rate of site fidelity for some individuals. The group size ranged from 1 to 43. Offspring were present in 53.3% of the groups. Mark-recapture abundance estimates indicate that between 40 and 100 bottlenose dolphins use this area annually.



Research in the territorial sea of the Republic of Slovenia has been carried out by Morigenos under the permit issued by the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning of the Republic of Slovenia, numbers 35701-2/2004 and 35701-67/2004. Research in the territorial sea of the Republic of Croatia has been carried out by Morigenos, in cooperation with the Blue World Institute of Marine Research and Conservation, under the permit issued by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, numbers UP/I 612-07/04-33/247, UP/I-612-07/06-33/984 and UP/I-612-07/08-33/024.

Morigenos is an independent and non-profit, scientific non-governmental organization that aims to combine scientific research, monitoring, education, public awareness, capacity building and management, to achieve effective conservation of the marine environment and biodiversity.


The central activity of Morigenos is the Slovenian Dolphin Project, a long-term research, monitoring and conservation programme, focusing on bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Slovenian and adjacent waters in the northern Adriatic Sea. Research activities focus on dolphin distribution, abundance, social structure, habitat use, feeding habits, fishery interactions and tourism impact through dedicated boat surveys, land-based watches and theodolite tracking, photo-identification and mark-recapture techniques, behavioural observations and passive acoustic monitoring.


Other activities include research on loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta), education, public awareness and capacity building.


Further information can be found at www.morigenos.org.

The day part of the observation date is masked, replaced with 01.
Accuracy of the group size differs row by row. The accuracy is found in count_acc field, which may be obtained upon permission from the provider. If the group size is not available (NA), the size is shown as a 0.

The dataset has been updated over time as outlined below. Each entry includes the version number, release date, type of change, and a short description.

Overview

Attributes described below represent those in the original dataset provided by the provider.
Only minimum required attributes are visible and downloadable online. Other attributes may be obtained upon provider's permission.

Attributes in dataset

Attribute (table column)	Description
oid	Unique ID number (generated by SEAMAP)
row_id	Row ID
latitude	Latitude in decimal degrees
longitude	Longitude in decimal degrees
obs_date	date of observation. The day part is masked, replaced with 01.
obs_count	Group size. See count_acc field for the count accuracy.
count_acc	Group size estimation accuracy. 1: highly accurate and/or confirmed through photo-ID; 0: best estimate, but not necessarily very accurate.
sp_obs	Species name
sp_tsn	ITIS Taxonomic Serial Number added by OBIS-SEAMAP
data_owner	Data owner
org	Organization
geom	definition not provided