RT Unpublished Material
T1 Seasonal use of coastal resources by otters : comparing sandy and rocky stretches
A1 Clavero Pineda, Miguel
A1 Prenda Marín, José
A1 Delibes Castro, Miguel
AB Seasonal patterns of use of coastal resources by otters have been Studied, simultaneously performing dietanalyses and spraint counts (expressed as marking intensity, MI). In spite of the small size of the study area. twodifferent sectors could be clearly identified, a sandy and a rocky one. The origin (freshwater or coastal) of most preytypes could also be determined. Surveys were performed bimonthly and classified as autumn-winter (A-W) orspring-summer (S-S).In the sandy sector, eels, flatfish and grey mullets were more frequently consumed in A-W, while crayfish was morefrequently consumed in S-S. None of the identified prey types in the rocky sectors showed different frequency ofOccurrence values between the two periods. In this sector otter fed mainly on coastal prey throughout the year, whilein the sandy one there was a clear shift from coastal prey to freshwater ones in S-S. The decrease of coastal preyconsumption in S-S in the sandy sector coincided with the lowest MI values, showing that in this period otters usecoastal areas less intensely. Though shifts in otter diet and use of space in the sandy sector are probably influencedby the population dynamics of estuarine fish species and crayfish, the increased tourist disturbance during spring andsummer in the sandy sector could be an important determinant of the observed patterns. Finally, the results show thatMI can be used as a reliable measure of habitat use by otters, at least in small areas. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rightsreserved
SN 0272-7714
YR 2006
FD 2006
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/2982
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/2982
LA eng
NO CLAVERO PINEDA, M., PRENDA MARÍN, J. y DELIBES CASTRO, M. "Seasonal use of coastal resources by otters : comparing sandy and rocky stretches". Estuarine, coastal and shelf science. Vol. 66, n. 3-4 (febrero 2006) p. 387-394. ISSN 0272-7714
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 31 may 2026