Post-release activity of three coral reef fish species in a marine reserve: analysis and recommendations for telemetry s
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Post-release activity of three coral reef fish species in a marine reserve: analysis and recommendations for telemetry studies Olivier Chateau
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Laurent Wantiez
Received: 16 June 2020 / Revised: 26 October 2020 / Accepted: 11 November 2020 # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract We studied the post-release activity of newly tagged fish and determined whether and for how long experimental protocol impacted their behavior. Our study focused on three species (Plectropomus leopardus, Chlorurus microrhinos and Scarus ghobban), including a total of 30 fish. Fish were kept outside their natural environment for several days before release for pre- and post-tagging surveys. Moreover, 47% of them were not released at their capture site. Half of all individuals (all species) showed a high level of side fidelity immediately upon release. During this period, they were detected in the same place, by a small and constant number of hydrophones. This site fidelity pattern was also observed for the other fish (50%; all species) but after 1 to 18 days of an unsettled pattern, during which the fish moved significantly along the reef slope (high activity). During this short period, the distances travelled were significantly higher than during the subsequent period of site fidelity (several km vs. a few hundred m). We hypothesize that these unsettled patterns might result from fish experimental displacement (homing behavior) and from post-capture captivity (the fish had to recover a niche within the ecosystem). Consequently, we suggest that fish be released where
O. Chateau (*) Laboratory of Marine Biology and Ecology, Aquarium des Lagons, Noumea, New Caledonia, France e-mail: [email protected] L. Wantiez UMR ENTROPIE IRD-UR-UNC-CNRS-IFREMER, University of New Caledonia, Noumea, New Caledonia, France
they were caught to limit the movements associated with homing behavior. Periods of captivity should be avoided as much as possible. If this is not possible, a minimum acclimatization period of two or three weeks should be taken into account when analyzing the data. Keywords Acoustic telemetry . Fish behavior . Homing behavior . Tagging impact . Captivity impact . New Caledonia
Introduction Acoustic telemetry is increasingly used to study connectivity within fragmented seascapes, fish behavior and the impact of human activities such as fishing, tourism or establishment of marine reserves (Lindholm et al. 2006; Chateau and Wantiez 2009; Meyer et al. 2010; Marshell et al. 2011; Welsh and Bellwood 2012; Bunt and Kingsford 2014; Pittman et al. 2014). Understanding the applicability, benefits and limitations of this technology is becoming more important as it is increasingly used in research programs (Le Pichon et al. 2015). The patterns of fish movements identified using telemetry are affected by the experimental design, the range of tag detection in the environment, the survival of tagged fish and the impact of the experimental protocol on their behavior (capture, stalling, handling, tagging, among others). The impact of tags and
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