CE.TU.S. research cetacean sightings in the North Tuscany and Tuscan Archipelago waters, 1997-2011

Original provider:
Cetacean Research Centre (CE.TU.S.)

Dataset credits:
Cetacean Research Centre (CE.TU.S.)

Abstract:
We work all year long in the Versilia area (North Tuscany) on a group of resident bottlenose dolphins called Alpha community and during the spring/summer time in the Tuscan Archipelago area on all the species of cetaceans, including <i>T. truncatus</i>, <i>B. physalus</i>, <i>S. coeruleoalba</i>, <i>P. macrocephalus</i>, <i>G. griseus</i> and <i>D. delphis</i>, <i>G. melas</i>, <i>Z. cavirostris</i>. Our platform is a 40 ft sail catamaran “Krill” (for a crew of 10 persons) equipped for the research activities (hydrophones, underwater digital HD camera, HD photocamera etc.), two engines and 5 mt rubber boat with 40 cv motor. Our activities include: ecology, ethology (interactions, parental care, etc.), bioacoustic, didactic of the school. Our last studies are the project to understand the presence/absence of bottlenose dolphins in the North Tuscany, related to environmental co-variates (i.e., sea surface temperature, coastal distance, bathymetry), in collaboration with University of Pisa, Genoa Acquarium, O.T.C. and Pelagos commitee and the comparison between the use of mark-recapture and distance sampling.