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Luna, Fábia de Oliveira; Bonde, Robert K.; Attademo, Fernanda L. N.; Saunders, Jonathan W.; Meigs-Friend, Gaia; Passavante, José Zanon O.; Hunter, Margaret E.
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2012 |
Phylogeographic implications for release of critically endangered manatee calves rescued in northeast Brazil.
Aquatic Conserv.: Mar. Freshw. Ecosyst. 22(5): 665–672. 2 tabs. 1 fig. DOI: 10.1002/aqc.2260 Publ. online July 4, 2012 in wileyonlinelibrary.com.
–ABSTRACT: 1. The Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus), a subspecies of the West Indian manatee, is a large-bodied marine mammal found in fresh, brackish, and marine habitats throughout the Caribbean Islands and Central and South America. Antillean manatees in Brazil are classified as critically endangered, with a census size of approximately 500 individuals. The population in the Northeast region of Brazil is suspected to have approximately 300 manatees and is threatened by habitat alteration and incidental entanglement in fishing gear.
2. A high incidence of dependent calf strandings have been identified near areas of altered critical manatee habitat. The majority of the calves are neonates, discovered alive, with no potential mothers nearby. These calves typically require human intervention to survive.
3. Since 1989 the calves have been rescued (N=67), rehabilitated, and released (N=25) to supplement the small wild manatee population. The rescued calves, and those born in captivity, are typically, not released to their rescue location, mainly for logistical reasons. Therefore, phylogeographic analyses can help to identify related populations and appropriate release sites.
4. Here, mitochondrial DNA analyses identified low haplotype (h=0.08) and nucleotide (p=0.0026) genetic diversity in three closely related haplotypes. All three haplotypes (M01, M03, and a previously unidentified haplotype, M04) were found in the northern portion of the region, while only a single haplotype (M01) was represented in the south. This suggests the presence of two genetic groups with a central mixing zone. Release of rehabilitated calves to unrelated populations may result in genetic swamping of locally adapted alleles or genotypes, limiting the evolutionary potential of the population.
5. The small population size coupled with low genetic diversity indicates that the Northeast Brazil manatee population is susceptible to inbreeding depression and possible local extinction. Further conservation measures incorporating genetic information could be beneficial to the critically endangered Brazilian manatee population.
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Attademo, Fernanda Loffler Niemeyer; Balensiefer, Deisi Cristiane; da Bôaviagem Freire, Augusto Carlos; de Sousa, Glaucia Pereira; da Cunha, Fábio Adonis Gouveia Carneiro; Lunaa, Fábia de Oliveira
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2015 |
Debris ingestion by the Antillean Manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus).
Marine Pollution Bulletin 1 figure. DOI:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.09.040. Published online October 1, 2015.
–ABSTRACT: The Antillean manatee inhabits coastal regions of North and Northeastern Brazil and currently is considered an endangered species in the country. Aiming to gather information for the development of public policies focusing on the conservation of manatees, the National Center for Research and Conservation of Aquatic Mammals of the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity has been rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing these mammals since the 1980s. Over the last 36 years, 40 manatees were released by the CMA/ICMBio and four of them were rescued again due to debris ingestion. Two of these manatees died and the other two were taken back into captivity for a new rehabilitation process. The four mammals had confirmed diagnosis of plastic debris ingestion. These findings demonstrate that the environment where the manatees live after being released had a significant amount of garbage which may hinder the success of the species conservation in Brazil.
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Normande, Iran Campello; Luna, Fabia De Oliveira; Mendes Malhado, Ana Claudia; Gomes Borges, Joao Carlos; Viana Junior, Pitagoras Carlos; Niemeyer Attademo, Fernanda Loeffer; Ladle, Richard J.
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2015 |
Eighteen years of Antillean manatee Trichechus manatus manatus releases in Brazil: lessons learnt.
Oryx 49(2): 338-344. 1 tab. 2 figs. 1 pl. DOI: 10.1017/S0030605313000896. April 2015.
–ABSTRACT: The Antillean manatee Trichechus manatus manatus was once widespread from the south-eastern coast of Brazil to Central America and the Caribbean. In Brazil habitat destruction and overhunting severely reduced and fragmented the wild population, restricting extant subpopulations to the north and north-east coast. In response to these threats an ambitious government-led programme was initiated in 1994, with the aim of rehabilitating orphaned manatee calves and releasing them into the southernmost subpopulation. The programme is unique within Brazil, and has invested unprecedented resources in post-release monitoring. So far 30 manatees have been released at three sites, with a high rate of success (> 75%). Time in captivity appears to be a key variable determining post-release success: too long or too short a time in captivity decreasing the probability of survival. We describe the main features of this long-term programme and identify six key lessons learnt: (1) close monitoring, health assessments and rescues can significantly increase the success of releases, (2) combining different monitoring techniques results in high-quality data and reduces tracking costs, (3) long-term studies are needed to effectively evaluate the results, (4) releasing manatees at c. 5 years of age can increase chances of success, (5) soft-release is important to aid acclimatization, and (6) the programme has been effective in raising awareness among the general public, supporting education and fund-raising.
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Mendonça, Marcos A.; Santos, Marcone L.; Barral, Thiago D.; Attademo, Fernanda L.; Costa, Raphael B.; Meyer, Roberto; Barrouin-Melo, Stella M.; Portela, Ricardo D.
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2019 |
Affinity of Staphylococcal a and Streptococcal G proteins to West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) immunoglobulins.
Jour. Wildlife Diseases 55(2): 421-424. doi.org/10.7589/2018-02-061 Apr. 9, 2019.
–ABSTRACT: The West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus), a subspecies that inhabits coastal areas of Central and South America, has been listed as a vulnerable species because of the rapid decline in its population. Commercially available immunologic reagents specific for sirenians are lacking, limiting the development of sensitive immunodiagnostic assays. We observed the affinity of the microbial proteins A and G to T. m. manatus immunoglobulins. Manatee serum pools were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine the affinity intensity followed by western blotting to confirm the specific binding of proteins A and G to immunoglobulins. The ELISA demonstrated maximum affinity of both proteins until the serum dilution of 1:12,800, with a similar affinity for both proteins. Because both A and G proteins exhibited affinity to manatee immunoglobulins, they can be used to develop sensitive immunodiagnostic assays for this species, contributing to manatee conversation procedures.
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Bibliography and Index of the Sirenia and Desmostylia 