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<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:contributor>Kelly Melillo-Sweeting</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Christine Ribic</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Albert J. Beck</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Kathleen M. Dudzinski</dc:contributor>
  <dc:creator>Alexis L. Levengood</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>2022</dc:date>
  <dc:description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Within nearshore waters off Bimini, The Bahamas, Atlantic spotted (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Stenella frontalis&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;) and common bottlenose (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Tursiops truncatus&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;) dolphins are sympatric but separated spatially in different geographic areas and water depth ranges. Afternoon surveys during summer months across a 16-year period showed&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;S. frontalis&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;used the northern part of the nearshore area more, while&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;T. truncatus&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;used the southern area more. Generally, examination of geographic zones and water depth distributions of both species before and after construction of a pier in the study area suggested these dolphins were not impacted, long-term, by this anthropogenic activity. Still some differences in use of the nearshore area were identified. For water depth,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;S. frontalis&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;varied use between 5–&amp;lt;12 m and 12–&amp;lt;20 m, depending on location along the coast. In contrast,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;T. truncatus&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;consistently used the 5–&amp;lt;12 m depths. This difference may be related to how each species used the nearshore area, with&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;T. truncatus&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;feeding more and&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;S. frontalis&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;travelling and doing other activities. A small change in the distribution of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;S. frontalis&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;by water depth off the northern coast of Bimini was found, specifically an increased use of deeper (12–20 m) water post 2014, which is unlikely an effect of pier construction as&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;S. frontalis&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;continued to use the 5–12 m depths as they had before pier construction. How this change might be related to an unprecedented 2013&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;S. frontalis&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;immigration event, which might have disrupted the social structure, habitat/resource use, and distribution of both species, is discussed.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:identifier>10.18475/cjos.v52i2.a3</dc:identifier>
  <dc:language>en</dc:language>
  <dc:publisher>BioOne</dc:publisher>
  <dc:title>Atlantic spotted and bottlenose dolphin sympatric distribution in nearshore waters off Bimini, The Bahamas, 2003–2018</dc:title>
  <dc:type>article</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>