What drives habitat use and distribution patterns of vulnerable cetacean species that inhabit regions of increasing development pressure.

 

In South American waters we examine the drivers of spatial patterns of cetaceans taking both a broad-scale modelling approach across species as well as a targeted fine-scale field program examining distribution patterns of two in-shore dolphins, the Peale's dolphin and the Chilean dolphin.

 

We have examined the distribution patterns of the coastal dolphins, the Australian snubfin (Orcaella heinsohni), humpback (Sousa sp.) and the bottlenose (Tursiops sp.), of north Australian waters, a region with increasing development pressures.