著者

堤 千華 市川 光太郎 赤松 友成 荒井 修亮 新家 富雄 原 武史 カンジャナ アドゥンヤヌコソン

出版者

海洋理工学会

雑誌

Journal of Advanced Marine Science and Technology Society = 海洋理工学会誌 (ISSN:13412752)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.11, no.1, pp.77-80, 2005-10-30

参考文献数

6

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Dugongs {Dugong dugon) are herbivorous marine mammals and endangered species. Unfortunately, the lack of basic research especially on use of seagrass patches by dugongs prevents us from taking any effective countermeasures for the conservation.In this study, to monitor feeding behavior of dugongs in the seagrass bed of a tidal flat, we propose a visual-acoustic combined observation method which is comprised of the visual observation and the acoustic observation using a digital camera and automatic underwater sound monitoring systems for dugong (AUSOMS-D). This new observation method was tested in Thai waters. The increase in the number of dugong feeding trails was observed during nighttime by the visual observation. Dugong calls and feeding sounds were recorded by the acoustic observation. The increase of the dugong feeding trails coincided with the feeding sounds. Therefore, the visual-acoustic combined observation method is effective in monitoring feeding behavior of dugongs. This method has technical benefits not to impact both on the dugongs and the seagrass beds.