Drivers of Habitat Selection by the Endangered Greater Caribbean Manatee in Coastal‐Marine Ecosystems

ABSTRACT Habitat selection is a fundamental aspect of animal movement and behaviour, involving strategies that influence population regulation, species interactions, community structure and the generation and preservation of biodiversity. The Greater Caribbean Manatee is a megaherbivorous aquatic mammal with high environmental plasticity, found in a variety of coastal‐marine ecosystems from the United States to Brazil. The subspecies is locally threatened because of intense poaching in recent centuries, which has led to the disruption of small populations. In this study, we aimed to understand habitat selection patterns and their variation across study sites, sex, age classes and between captive‐released and wild manatees in northeastern Brazil to inform conservation policy. We used high‐resolution GPS telemetry data from 20 tagged manatees and applied autocorrelation‐informed resource selection functions (RSF) using (i) seagrass meadows, (ii) coral reefs, (iii) estuaries and (iv) freshwater springs as environmental predictors. As a proxy for anthropogenic impact, we also used a predictor combining multiple human activities at sea, which imposes substantial pressures with a subsequent degradation of manatee habitat. All environmental predictors had statistically significant results at the population level. Positive estimates were found for estuaries (1.52), springs (0.85) and seagrass meadows (0.77), indicating that manatees hierarchically select these habitats. The human impact was also positive (1.12), suggesting that the habitats selected by manatees overlap with human‐impacted areas. Coral reefs (−0.92) were found to have a negative estimate, indicating that the animals avoid using this habitat. Our results confirm the vital role of seagrass meadows and freshwater in manatee movement behaviour. The selected habitats overlap with human‐impacted areas, particularly in areas close to urban centers and ports. This creates obstacles to manatee free movement and the reconnection of subpopulations, highlighting the importance of conserving and restoring these marine coastal habitats.