The size of an individual’s home range is shaped by resource availability, mating opportunities and predation pressure. Home range size may vary within a species depending on gender, age, or season. Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) inhabit diverse environments and exhibit a high degree of ecological specialization, thus home range size may also vary according to their individual strategy to exploit resources.
Foraging on human-related resources has been shown to alter movement patterns and spatial distribution of animals. At Monkey Mia, Shark Bay, Western Australia, a small number of dolphins accept fish handouts from humans as part of a state licensed provisioning program. Home ranges of provisioned dolphins have been shown to be substantially smaller compared to non-provisioned individuals. However, it is not clear how home range size relates to other foraging specializations and what this indicates in terms of their adaptive potential.
In my master’s thesis I will investigate how different foraging strategies of bottlenose dolphins inhabiting Shark Bay influence their home range size and how they affect long-term fitness variables such as reproductive output and survival of adults and calves. This will provide further insights into the ranging and foraging behavior of dolphins and the potential costs thereof. Such insights are vital to ensure sustainable management of the tourist program in the long term.