Athena Rycyk

Graduate Student

Biological Oceanography
Major Professor: Dr. Douglas Nowacek

Department of Oceanography
Rm 505, OSB
Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida 32306-4320

Research

At least one-third of documented manatee deaths in Florida are directly attributable to human activities - the single largest source of these moralities is watercraft strikes (Ackerman et al. 1995). A thorough understanding of the behavioral mechanisms underlying manatee-boat collisions is necessary in to order to devise effective avoidance approaches (technological or regulatory). Using multi-sensor digital acoustic recording tags I am examining behavior of manatees in the presence and absence of boats. Of particular interest is the levels of vessel noise received by manatees and if they correlate to observed responses or lack thereof.