The Impact of Covid-19 Lockdowns on Bottlenose Dolphin and Toadfish Occurrence in Almirante Bay, Panama
Dunphy, Peyton Shea Bouchard, Juliana Esther Hynes, Lizzie Casey
Dunphy, Peyton Shea
Bouchard, Juliana Esther
Hynes, Lizzie Casey
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Abstract
Covid-19 lockdowns resulted in a decline of global traffic density, resulting in a unique opportunity to study the impact of boat noise on sonorous marine organisms. Here we study potential changes in bottlenose dolphins, toad fish, and boat presence before and during Covid-19 lockdowns in Almirante Bay, Panama. Almirante Bay’s is home to taxi and ferry companies that provide access to various islands in the archipelago of Bocas del Toro and is a major port for export of produce. We generated a presence-absence matrix of sound detections from bottlenose dolphins, toadfish, and boats using acoustic data collected with autonomous underwater recorders on a 24-hour cycle. We hypothesize that during Covid-19 lockdowns there was a decline in traffic density resulting in an increase in detection rate of dolphins and toadfish. The results from this study add to an increasing body of evidence on the short-term impacts of anthropogenic noise to marine life and provides important information that can be use in ongoing conservation efforts.
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Undergraduate
Date
2021-01-01