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Filling The Gaps: Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus) Population Dynamics, Structure, And Connectivity Within Florida Panhandle Bays, Sounds, And Estuaries, Christina Toms

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

At the time of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, very little was known about the inshore bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) populations hit hardest by the spill. Without previous population demographic data impacts were challenging to assess. My dissertation was designed to build research capacity moving forward by helping to fill data gaps in the western Florida Panhandle. The first study presented here resulted in the first system-wide assessment of seasonal abundance, survival, and site fidelity patterns of bottlenose dolphins that inhabit the Pensacola Bay system. In contrast to a previous study that reported only 33 dolphins, results from …