Proposal of a non-lethal visual census method to estimate freshwater stingray abundance

There is not a current method to estimate South American freshwater stingray’s abundance. Therefore we designed a census method and tested it in the field. It consists of making nocturnal surveys by boat in large rivers (>25m width) and floodplain lagoons of varying sizes, along transects of 100m...

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Main Authors: Mónica Andrea Morales-Betancourt, Carlos Andrés Lasso-Alcalá
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana 2016-01-01
Series:Universitas Scientiarum
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Online Access:http://revistas.javeriana.edu.co/index.php/scientarium/article/view/15364
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author Mónica Andrea Morales-Betancourt
Carlos Andrés Lasso-Alcalá
author_facet Mónica Andrea Morales-Betancourt
Carlos Andrés Lasso-Alcalá
author_sort Mónica Andrea Morales-Betancourt
collection DOAJ
description There is not a current method to estimate South American freshwater stingray’s abundance. Therefore we designed a census method and tested it in the field. It consists of making nocturnal surveys by boat in large rivers (>25m width) and floodplain lagoons of varying sizes, along transects of 100m x 10m (1000 m2). We applied this method in the Tomo River, a tributary of the Orinoco River in Colombia. 110 transects were surveyed in 200 runs. A total of 149 rays of four species were recorded: Potamotrygon motoro, Potamotrygon orbignyi, Potamotrygon schroederi and Paratrygon aiereba. P. motoro was the most abundant with a density of 0.31 individuals /1000 m2 (SD=0.5). This method gave optimal results when applied to habitats with high transparency and shallow depth (< 1m) since it permitted the identification of both adults and juveniles present.
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publishDate 2016-01-01
publisher Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
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spelling doaj-art-963362cb1c804537a7d1e60b6e062a612025-08-20T02:10:13ZengPontificia Universidad JaverianaUniversitas Scientiarum0122-74832027-13522016-01-01211233210.11144/Javeriana.SC21-1.poanProposal of a non-lethal visual census method to estimate freshwater stingray abundanceMónica Andrea Morales-Betancourt0Carlos Andrés Lasso-Alcalá1Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Street 28a #15-09 Bogotá, Colombia Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Street 28a #15-09 Bogotá, Colombia There is not a current method to estimate South American freshwater stingray’s abundance. Therefore we designed a census method and tested it in the field. It consists of making nocturnal surveys by boat in large rivers (>25m width) and floodplain lagoons of varying sizes, along transects of 100m x 10m (1000 m2). We applied this method in the Tomo River, a tributary of the Orinoco River in Colombia. 110 transects were surveyed in 200 runs. A total of 149 rays of four species were recorded: Potamotrygon motoro, Potamotrygon orbignyi, Potamotrygon schroederi and Paratrygon aiereba. P. motoro was the most abundant with a density of 0.31 individuals /1000 m2 (SD=0.5). This method gave optimal results when applied to habitats with high transparency and shallow depth (< 1m) since it permitted the identification of both adults and juveniles present.http://revistas.javeriana.edu.co/index.php/scientarium/article/view/15364densityPotamotrygonidaeOrinoco river basinColombia
spellingShingle Mónica Andrea Morales-Betancourt
Carlos Andrés Lasso-Alcalá
Proposal of a non-lethal visual census method to estimate freshwater stingray abundance
Universitas Scientiarum
density
Potamotrygonidae
Orinoco river basin
Colombia
title Proposal of a non-lethal visual census method to estimate freshwater stingray abundance
title_full Proposal of a non-lethal visual census method to estimate freshwater stingray abundance
title_fullStr Proposal of a non-lethal visual census method to estimate freshwater stingray abundance
title_full_unstemmed Proposal of a non-lethal visual census method to estimate freshwater stingray abundance
title_short Proposal of a non-lethal visual census method to estimate freshwater stingray abundance
title_sort proposal of a non lethal visual census method to estimate freshwater stingray abundance
topic density
Potamotrygonidae
Orinoco river basin
Colombia
url http://revistas.javeriana.edu.co/index.php/scientarium/article/view/15364
work_keys_str_mv AT monicaandreamoralesbetancourt proposalofanonlethalvisualcensusmethodtoestimatefreshwaterstingrayabundance
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