Abstract
In this study a telemetry-based approach was used to examine the movements and the habitat utilization of Potamotrygon motoro, a widespread species of potamotrygonid stingray of South America. The investigation included 13 individuals that were tagged with acoustic transmitters and manually monitored from March to September 2017 in the Bita river, a biodiversity hotspot of the Orinoco basin, Colombia. Stingrays used an area ranging from 0.00360 to 11.86735 km (average 2.57742 km ). Within this area, telemetry data identified a higher zone of activity in which 50% of the individuals remained during the study, suggesting that P. motoro is a small-range species with strong site fidelity. As the species is highly targeted by ornamental fisheries in the Orinoco basin, this information may be useful to identify critical habitats and help to guide conservation strategies, based on a fish-oriented management. Given the wide distribution of P. motoro into South America, results may also be useful to neighboring countries such as Brazil, Peru and Venezuela, where a similar use is observed for the species.
PUBLICATION AVAILABLE AT: https://www.researchgate.net/…/354787518_Garrone_Neto_et_al_2021_A_small_home_range_increases_the_v…