Increases in oceanic shipping are a global phenomenon, and a leading cause of concern for marine animal welfare. While it may be difficult to assess the effect of boat traffic on all species in all contexts, it is vital to report anthropogenic impacts where longitudinal data is available, and doubly so where a dearth of information exists. The purpose of this study is to describe how dolphin behavior changed in the presence of boats in the Mississippi Sound between 2006 and 2012, and more specifically, to detail how different boat types impacted dolphins’ behavioral states. This study is unique in its capacity to assess the effect of all major boat types in a given area. Common boat types in the Mississippi Sound were operationally defined as sailboats, recreational boats, fishing boats, shrimp boats, shipping boats, ferries, or patrol boats. Behaviors were grouped into nine behavioral states including feed, social, travel, mill, with boat, rest, other, underwater, and not found. Behavioral states were recorded via an instantaneous scan sampling method. Mixed multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) tests determined that there was no statistical difference between behavioral states before and after boat events, when boat types were collapsed. However, when boat types were included in analysis, they affected dolphin behavior in significantly different ways. This thesis contributes to the field of difficult-to-assess indirect effects of boat traffic, and provides incentive for researchers to perform inclusive boat traffic surveys in future studies.
","abstract_html":"<p>Increases in oceanic shipping are a global phenomenon, and a leading cause of concern for marine animal welfare. While it may be difficult to assess the effect of boat traffic on all species in all contexts, it is vital to report anthropogenic impacts where longitudinal data is available, and doubly so where a dearth of information exists. The purpose of this study is to describe how dolphin behavior changed in the presence of boats in the Mississippi Sound between 2006 and 2012, and more specifically, to detail how different boat types impacted dolphins’ behavioral states. This study is unique in its capacity to assess the effect of all major boat types in a given area. Common boat types in the Mississippi Sound were operationally defined as sailboats, recreational boats, fishing boats, shrimp boats, shipping boats, ferries, or patrol boats. Behaviors were grouped into nine behavioral states including feed, social, travel, mill, with boat, rest, other, underwater, and not found. Behavioral states were recorded via an instantaneous scan sampling method. Mixed multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) tests determined that there was no statistical difference between behavioral states before and after boat events, when boat types were collapsed. However, when boat types were included in analysis, they affected dolphin behavior in significantly different ways.<em> </em>This thesis contributes to the field of difficult-to-assess indirect effects of boat traffic, and provides incentive for researchers to perform inclusive boat traffic surveys in future studies.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Zapetis, Maria"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Heidi Lyn","Frank Moore","Richard Mohn"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2017-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:44:41Z","subjects":["Anthropogenic effects","boat types","bottlenose dolphin","dolphin","human impact","Mississippi Sound","Animal Sciences","Behavior and Ethology","Experimental Analysis of Behavior","Marine Biology","Other Animal Sciences","Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology","Other Psychology","Zoology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/287","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Heidi Lyn","Frank Moore","Richard Mohn"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Zapetis, Maria"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2017-03-27T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Anthropogenic effects","boat types","bottlenose dolphin","dolphin","human impact","Mississippi Sound","Animal Sciences","Behavior and Ethology","Experimental Analysis of Behavior","Marine Biology","Other Animal Sciences","Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology","Other Psychology","Zoology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/287"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Increases in oceanic shipping are a global phenomenon, and a leading cause of concern for marine animal welfare. While it may be difficult to assess the effect of boat traffic on all species in all contexts, it is vital to report anthropogenic impacts where longitudinal data is available, and doubly so where a dearth of information exists. The purpose of this study is to describe how dolphin behavior changed in the presence of boats in the Mississippi Sound between 2006 and 2012, and more specifically, to detail how different boat types impacted dolphins’ behavioral states. This study is unique in its capacity to assess the effect of all major boat types in a given area. Common boat types in the Mississippi Sound were operationally defined as sailboats, recreational boats, fishing boats, shrimp boats, shipping boats, ferries, or patrol boats. Behaviors were grouped into nine behavioral states including feed, social, travel, mill, with boat, rest, other, underwater, and not found. Behavioral states were recorded via an instantaneous scan sampling method. Mixed multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) tests determined that there was no statistical difference between behavioral states before and after boat events, when boat types were collapsed. However, when boat types were included in analysis, they affected dolphin behavior in significantly different ways. This thesis contributes to the field of difficult-to-assess indirect effects of boat traffic, and provides incentive for researchers to perform inclusive boat traffic surveys in future studies.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Effect of Boat Type on Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops trucatus) Behavior in the Mississippi Sound"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Heidi Lyn","Frank Moore","Richard Mohn"],"dc:creator":["Zapetis, Maria"],"dc:date.available":["2017-03-27T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Increases in oceanic shipping are a global phenomenon, and a leading cause of concern for marine animal welfare. While it may be difficult to assess the effect of boat traffic on all species in all contexts, it is vital to report anthropogenic impacts where longitudinal data is available, and doubly so where a dearth of information exists. The purpose of this study is to describe how dolphin behavior changed in the presence of boats in the Mississippi Sound between 2006 and 2012, and more specifically, to detail how different boat types impacted dolphins’ behavioral states. This study is unique in its capacity to assess the effect of all major boat types in a given area. Common boat types in the Mississippi Sound were operationally defined as sailboats, recreational boats, fishing boats, shrimp boats, shipping boats, ferries, or patrol boats. Behaviors were grouped into nine behavioral states including feed, social, travel, mill, with boat, rest, other, underwater, and not found. Behavioral states were recorded via an instantaneous scan sampling method. Mixed multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) tests determined that there was no statistical difference between behavioral states before and after boat events, when boat types were collapsed. However, when boat types were included in analysis, they affected dolphin behavior in significantly different ways. This thesis contributes to the field of difficult-to-assess indirect effects of boat traffic, and provides incentive for researchers to perform inclusive boat traffic surveys in future studies.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/287"],"dc:subject":["Anthropogenic effects","boat types","bottlenose dolphin","dolphin","human impact","Mississippi Sound","Animal Sciences","Behavior and Ethology","Experimental Analysis of Behavior","Marine Biology","Other Animal Sciences","Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology","Other Psychology","Zoology"],"dc:title":["The Effect of Boat Type on Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops trucatus) Behavior in the Mississippi Sound"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:44:41Z"}