Manatee County 2025-2026 Manatee Distribution Survey Flight Path

Aerial distribution surveys are used by marine mammal biologists from FWC and other agencies to determine the seasonal distribution of manatees. Most surveys are conducted from small, four-seat, high-winged airplanes (Cessna 172 or 182) flying at a height of 500-1000 ft at a speed of 70-90 kts. This survey was conducted by an aircraft mostly following a standardized, theoretical flight route, which was designed to cover likely manatee habitats in the study area. Some areas along the planned flight path may have been partially surveyed or not surveyed at all due to air traffic, weather, or other constraints present during individual surveys. See trackline metadata details below for details of flight path modifications. Flight paths curved parallel to the shoreline, and the airplane circled when manatees were spotted until a count of the number of animals in each group was obtained. Circling was limited to 3 passes unless a group was unusually large and aerial photos were used in some cases to confirm counts. Sightings data were recorded on paper maps and entered into a GIS shapefile for spatial analysis using NAIP imagery and recorded flight paths as a reference. GIS is a computer software system for representing data spatially and for conducting spatial analyses. This dataset includes recorded flight paths from 24 surveys flown on the following dates: 5 and 18 February 2025; 3 and 22 March 2025; 9 and 25 April 2025; 8 and 27 May 2025; 19 and 25 June 2025; 9 and 28 July 2025; 6 and 29 August 2025; 12 and 22 September 2025; 13 and 23 October 2025; 5 and 23 November 2025; 11 and 26 December 2025; and 9 and 23 January 2026. Flight path records were obtained from GPS devices. Where GPS data were not available, flight paths recorded on a GPS-enabled iPad unit were obtained from ForeFlight software or flight paths were downloaded from the publicly accessible FlightAware website. For the 3 and 22 March 2025 surveys, only lower resolution flight path data were available. Tracklines are edited to remove transit and off-effort tracks. FWC and Mote staff members were the observers for these flights. The survey area includes coastal areas of Manatee County from Tampa Bay to the Sarasota County line, including the Gulf of America shoreline, the Manatee River and other smaller bays and estuaries.

来自佛罗里达鱼类与野生动物保护委员会（FWC）及其他机构的海洋哺乳动物生物学家，会借助航空分布调查探明海牛的季节分布情况。绝大多数调查依托四座小型上单翼飞机（塞斯纳172或182型）开展，飞行高度设定为500至1000英尺，飞行速度为70至90节。本次调查的航空器基本遵循标准化理论航线飞行，该航线的设计初衷是覆盖研究区域内所有潜在的海牛栖息区域。但受单次调查期间的空中交通、天气或其他限制因素影响，规划航线沿线的部分区域可能仅完成了部分勘测，或是完全未被覆盖。有关航线调整的具体细节，请参阅下文的航迹元数据说明。飞行航线沿海岸线呈平行弯曲态势，当发现海牛时，飞机会环绕盘旋，直至完成对每一群海牛的数量统计。盘旋次数最多限定为3次，但若海牛群规模异常庞大，则可适当增加，部分场景下还会借助航空照片辅助确认统计结果。观测数据首先记录于纸质地图，随后被录入地理信息系统（GIS）的SHP格式文件中，以美国农业部农业影像计划（NAIP）影像及已记录的飞行航线作为参照开展空间分析。地理信息系统（GIS）是一类可实现数据空间可视化并开展空间分析的计算机软件系统。本数据集包含24次调查的已记录飞行航线，对应调查日期如下：2025年2月5日、18日；2025年3月3日、22日；2025年4月9日、25日；2025年5月8日、27日；2025年6月19日、25日；2025年7月9日、28日；2025年8月6日、29日；2025年9月12日、22日；2025年10月13日、23日；2025年11月5日、23日；2025年12月11日、26日；以及2026年1月9日、23日。飞行航线记录源自GPS设备。若无法获取GPS数据，则采用搭载GPS功能的iPad设备记录的航线，该类数据可从ForeFlight软件中导出，或是从公开可访问的FlightAware网站下载获取。针对2025年3月3日与22日的两次调查，仅能获取低分辨率的飞行航线数据。航迹数据经过编辑处理，剔除了转场飞行与非作业时段的航迹记录。本次飞行的观测员为FWC与莫特（Mote）的工作人员。本次调查区域涵盖马纳蒂县从坦帕湾至萨拉索塔县界的沿海区域，包括墨西哥湾海岸线、马纳蒂河以及其他小型海湾与河口。