Development of a bioenergetic model for estimating energy requirements and prey biomass consumption of the bottlenose dolphin Tursiops truncatus

The bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) is a common species in coastal temperate waters and the ideal candidate for developing a conceptual bioenergetic model given that sufficient information is available to parameterize key input variables. A bioenergetic model was developed to estimate annual energy requirements (MJ/year) and prey biomass consumption (t/year) based on model variations of Field Metabolic Rates (FMR) that included percent...