Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Model Life Table For Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Truncatus) From The Indian River Lagoon System, Florida, U.S.A., Megan K. Stolen, Jay Barlow

Publications, Agencies and Staff of the U.S. Department of Commerce

Data gathered from 220 stranded bottlenose dolphins (Tzmiop tvuncatlls) in the Indian River Lagoon system, Florida, were used to derive a life table. Survivorship curves were fit to the data using Siler’s competing-risk model and a maximum likelihood approach. Population growth was estimated to be between r = 0.0 and 0.046 based on the observed numbers of stranded dolphins. Variance in survival rates was estimated using an individual-based, age-structured population projection model. We estimate that the overall annual mortality rate for this population was 9.8% per year. Sex-specific differences in survivorship were apparent with females outliving males. The …