The data were collected by U.S.G.S. biologists and their partners during several field trips from March 2013 to April 2014 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Data were collected during the manatee health assessments. The U.S. Geological Survey’s Sirenia Project is a federal research effort focusing on manatee biology and ecology with a long history of studies in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the international arena. The status of the Antillean manatee in Cuba is not well known. Manatee population census techniques are mostly prohibited due to regulation of the airspace, but it is speculated that the population of manatee in Cuba is not very large. Manatee captures will enable health assessments and radio tagging to determine movement patterns.

Data sets collected for manatee movement and habitat research in the Northern Gulf of Mexico from 2013-2019. These include manatee GPS tracking, manatee sightings, aquatic vegetation from manatee use areas, and environmental data (salinity and bathymetry at vegetation sampling sites).

West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus) are separated into two allopatric subspecies: the Florida manatee (T. m. latirostris) and the Antillean manatee (T. m. manatus). In the winter of 2020-2021, an adult manatee was sighted off the coast of Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico, in areas where Antillean manatees are not typically seen. The individual had distinct watercraft scars on its body, which were matched using photo-identification to a known male Florida manatee (PE424) that had been repeatedly photographed in Florida since 1998. The data presented are the verified photo-documented sightings history of PE424 from Florida and Mexico.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) detection is a rapidly expanding technique used to non-invasively detect cryptic, low density, or logistically difficult-to-study species, such as imperiled manatees. Genetic material shed into the environment through tissue and body fluids is concentrated from water samples and analyzed for the presence of targeted eDNA. To help delineate manatee habitat ranges, high use areas, and seasonal population changes, a cytochrome-b quantitative PCR and state-of-the-art droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) eDNA assay was developed for the three extant and vulnerable manatee species: both subspecies of the West Indian manatee (Florida and Antillean), the African manatee and Amazonian manatee. Occurrence (ψ) and detection (p) probabilities were estimated to inform management efforts and population monitoring. To validate the assay, water was analyzed from a relatively high-density Florida manatee east coast population and produced an average 31,564 target DNA molecules/liter (ψ=0.84 (0.40-0.99); p=0.99 (0.95-1.00)). Similar occupancy estimates were produced from investigations of less well-characterized Florida manatee populations in the Florida Panhandle (ψ=0.79 (0.54-0.97)) and Cuba (ψ=0.89 (0.54-1.00)) while occupancy estimates of the African species in Cameroon were lower (ψ=0.49 (0.09-0.95)). The estimates were higher than those generated using aerial survey data on the west coast of Florida. Future eDNA studies could assess locations where manatees are difficult to identify visually (e.g., dark or turbid water common in the Amazon River, and Africa), are present in patchy distributions, or where repatriation efforts are proposed (e.g., Brazil, Guadeloupe). Moreover, this technology could be extended to species on the verge of extinction (e.g., manatees in Jamaica and Haiti, and Asian dugongs), where conventional survey methods are challenging.

We analyzed morphological and molecular data from one existing and one newly discovered population of 'bullseye' snakehead (Teleostei: Channidae) from Florida. Morphological and meristic data were collected from museum collections and compared with data from recent taxonomic revisions of related species in the 'Marulius' species group from southeast Asia. Additionally, we performed DNA sequencing of COI barcodes from museum tissue vouchers (corresponding with lots examined for morphology) and compared these sequences with an existing COI barcode library for the 'Marulius' group. These analyses were used to determine the taxonomic identity of snakeheads established in Florida.

These data represent the standard curve values as well as measurements of cytokine and reference gene transcripts from blood samples collected from Florida manatees and quantified using quantitative PCR.

Belt transects along 3 consecutively-placed, 25m transect lines were surveyed as part of Rapid Ecological Assessments conducted at 2 sites at Guguan in the Marianas Archipelago (MA) during 3 September - 1 October 2005 in the NOAA Oscar Elton Sette (OES 0511) Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) Cruise. Raw survey data included species level abundance estimates.

Belt transects along 3 consecutively-placed, 25m transect lines were surveyed as part of Rapid Ecological Assessments conducted at 3 sites at Guguan in the Marianas Archipelago (MA) during 25 May - 09 June 2007 in the NOAA Hi'ialakai (HI0703) Reef Assessment and Monitoring Program (RAMP) Cruise. Raw survey data included species level abundance estimates.

국립생태원 외래생물연구팀에서 외래생물 정밀조사, 외래생물 전국 서식실태 조사, 생태계교란 생물 모니터링 등의 사업을 통해 확보한 전국 등검은말벌 개체 분포 정보 제공