These posts are about ecology studies conducted by the SDRP.
Since 1970, we’ve been studying Sarasota Bay’s dolphin community — getting to know their lineages, their companions and even their favorite hangouts. But understanding the dynamics of a population of animals also includes understanding how they interact with their environment, especially learning about the types of food they prefer, the places where they find
Feeling the Heat During a Hot Summer People around the world are feeling extreme heat this summer and we’re receiving a lot of questions about what the heat might mean for dolphins. In 2010, we wrote an article about potential impacts of climate disruption on the resident dolphins of Sarasota Bay. We thought
Study Finds Evidence that Dolphins are Ingesting Microplastics A new study in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Marine Science has found evidence that members of the Sarasota Bay dolphin community are inadvertently ingesting microplastics as part of their diet — a finding that has implications for another long-lived apex predator that eats seafood:
What is animal residency and how do we define and measure it? In marine mammal research, residency is often used to describe the place that animals (or groups of animals) occupy in a given geographic space over a long period of time. In fact, the SDRP made the discovery that bottlenose dolphins can form
If they are what they eat, what are dolphins eating? Thanks to our long-term studies — including seasonal fish surveys — we know what the most common prey fish are in Sarasota Bay dolphin diets. But how do their diets change during events like red tides? SDRP’s Theresa Tatom-Naecker is testing a technique called
The Chicago Zoological Society’s Sarasota Dolphin Research Program has documented 22 dolphin births in 2021 to the long-term resident bottlenose dolphin community of Sarasota Bay, Florida, exceeding the record of 21 set in 2017. The newest calf was first observed with its mother, known as Squarenotch, on Dec. 2. Forty-four-year-old Squarenotch
When the Prey is Gone Gaining a fuller understanding of dolphins also means studying how they interact with their environment, including learning about one of the main ecological drivers for their behavior: prey availability. A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science has taken the first step in identifying how
What Happens When Dolphins and Freshwater Mix? Prolonged exposure to freshwater is linked to adverse health conditions, immune deficiencies, and even dolphin deaths, but there’s still a lot we don’t understand. SDRP Post-doctoral Scientist Dr. Christina Toms was conducting photo identification surveys in Pensacola Bay, Florida, as part of an
Seagrass Matters This summer (2021), we've continued our purse-seine catch-and-release fish surveys in Sarasota Bay. These surveys, conducted seasonally since 2004, allow us to gain an indication of the relative abundance of fish in Sarasota Bay — important information for understanding one of dolphins’ main ecological drivers: their prey. Our
This 2008 photo shows researchers preparing to release a tagged franciscana dolphin in Argentina. Dolphins were held for a brief period while satellite-linked tags were applied and then the dolphins were released on site. Lessons Learned in Sarasota Are Applying to Dolphin Conservation in Argentina and Brazil With research
