2024-2025 Faculty Research Grant
Daniel Gonzalez (Biology).
Phase VI of Amazonian Manatee Detection with Sonar.
There are currently three species of manatees in the world, and all are characterized as Vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Manatees are extremely secretive and the habitats they live in make them very difficult to survey. For this reason, scientists have struggled to estimate population sizes and properly monitor them for changes in population trends. Manatees, like many other animals that live in the intersection between humans and wildlife, have experienced severe population declines primarily due to habitat loss and human caused mortality (poaching, entanglement, etc.). Manatee conservation is a complicated endeavor because it requires sound scientific data relating the ecology of the species, as well as an understanding of interaction with humans. My research has focused on these aspects with the aim to improve our ability to identify population trends and the threats that manatees currently face. One of the major challenges in studying manatee distribution and abundance is being able to accurately detect and count manatees. In many habitats, traditional visual surveys via boats or manned aircraft have yielded very poor and unreliable results. Alternative methods are needed and are currently being tested, these include the use of UAV (drones), passive acoustics (hydrophones), and active acoustics (sonars). Here I propose to continue exploring the feasibility of using sonar as a way to detect and count Amazonian manatees in the western Amazon.