Faculty Research Grant 2022-2023

Daniel Gonzalez (Biology).

Phase IV of Amazonian Manatee Detection with Side-scan Sonar.

There are only three species of manatees in the world, and all are currently characterized as Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Manatees are extremely secretive and the habitats they live in make them very difficult to survey. For this reason, scientists have struggled to estimate population sizes and properly monitor them for changes in population trends. Manatees, like many other animals that live in the intersection between humans and nature, have experienced severe population declines primarily due to habitat loss and human caused mortality (poaching, entanglement, etc.). Manatee conservation is a complicated endeavor because it requires sound scientific data relating the ecology of the species, as well as an understanding of interaction with humans. My research has focused on these aspects with the aim to improve our ability to identify population trends and the threats that manatees currently face. One of the major challenges in studying manatee distribution and abundance is being able to accurately detect and count manatees. Visual surveys via boats or aircraft have low detection rates and highly variable detection biases. During my master’s work I tested the use of sonar to detect West Indian manatees and the technique has since been applied in dozens of locations with variable success. Here I propose to continue exploring the feasibility of this technique on Amazonian manatees in the western Amazon.