Using Fatty-Acid Profile Analysis as an Ecologic Indicator in the Management of Tourist Impacts on Marine Wildlife: A Case of Stingray-Feeding in the Caribbean |
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Authors: | Christina A D Semeniuk Ben Speers-Roesch Kristina D Rothley |
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Institution: | (1) School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, V5A 1S6 Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada;(2) Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada |
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Abstract: | Feeding marine wildlife as a tourism experience has become a popular means by which to attract both people and wildlife, although
management efforts are still in their infancy. “Stingray City Sandbar” in the Cayman Islands, where visitors can hand feed
free-ranging Southern Stingrays (Dasyatis americana), is a world-famous attraction currently undergoing visitor and wildlife management. One plan is to decrease the amount of
nonnatural food provided by tourists with the intention of decreasing stingray habituation to the artificial food source and
promoting stingray health. However, the effectiveness of this action is uncertain given that neither the extent of squid composition
in the stingray diet nor the degree of nutrient similarity between the fed and natural diets is unknown. We used fatty acid
(FA) profile analysis to address these questions by assessing the serum nonesterified FA composition of fed and unfed stingrays
around the island and compared them with FA profiles of (1) the provisioned food source (squid) and (2) other warm- and cold-water
elasmobranchs (sharks and rays). Our results indicated that fed stingrays were distinct. The FA profiles of the fed stingray
population were expressly different from those of the unfed populations and showed a remarkable similarity to the FA composition
of squid, suggesting that squid is the main food source. The tropical fed stingrays also exhibited essential FA ratios, specific
to both species and habitat, comparable with those of elasmobranchs and squid from cold-water environs, implying that the
provisioned food does not provide a similar nutritional lipid composition to that eaten in the wild. Our results suggest that
FA profiles are a valuable indicator for the management and monitoring of fed Southern Stingrays because they can be used
to assess differences in diet composition and provide an index of nutritional similarity. Our findings are currently being
used by Caymanian stakeholders in designing practical management actions for their wildlife attraction. |
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