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Article
Supplemental Feeding for Ecotourism Reverses Diel Activity and Alters Movement Patterns and Spatial Distribution of the Southern Stingray, Dasyatis americana
PLoS One
  • Mark John Corcoran, Nova Southeastern University
  • Bradley M. Wetherbee, Nova Southeastern University; University of Rhode Island
  • Mahmood S. Shivji, Nova Southeastern University
  • Matthew Potenski, Nova Southeastern University
  • Demian D. Chapman, Nova Southeastern University
  • Guy Harvey, Nova Southeastern University
ResearcherID
G-4080-2013
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-18-2013
Keywords
  • Reefs,
  • Wildlife,
  • Cayman Islands,
  • Marine ecosystems,
  • Lagoons,
  • Animal behavior,
  • Boats,
  • Foraging
Abstract

Southern stingrays, Dasyatis americana, have been provided supplemental food in ecotourism operations at Stingray City Sandbar (SCS), Grand Cayman since 1986, with this site becoming one of the world’s most famous and heavily visited marine wildlife interaction venues. Given expansion of marine wildlife interactive tourism worldwide, there are questions about the effects of such activities on the focal species and their ecosystems. We used a combination of acoustic telemetry and tag-recapture efforts to test the hypothesis that human-sourced supplemental feeding has altered stingray activity patterns and habitat use at SCS relative to wild animals at control sites. Secondarily, we also qualitatively estimated the population size of stingrays supporting this major ecotourism venue. Tag-recapture data indicated that a population of at least 164 stingrays, over 80% female, utilized the small area at SCS for prolonged periods of time. Examination of comparative movements of mature female stingrays at SCS and control sites revealed strong differences between the two groups: The fed animals demonstrated a notable inversion of diel activity, being constantly active during the day with little movement at night compared to the nocturnally active wild stingrays; The fed stingrays utilized significantly (p

DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0059235
Comments

©2013 Corcoran et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Citation Information
Mark John Corcoran, Bradley M. Wetherbee, Mahmood S. Shivji, Matthew Potenski, et al.. "Supplemental Feeding for Ecotourism Reverses Diel Activity and Alters Movement Patterns and Spatial Distribution of the Southern Stingray, Dasyatis americana" PLoS One Vol. 8 Iss. 3 e59235 (2013) p. 1 - 11 ISSN: 1932-6203
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/mahmood-shivji/106/